Carmelo Hayes says off-air moment with Undertaker at WWE NXT was not planned, Undertaker called for it on the fly

Photo Courtesy: WWE

A look back at the moment involving Carmelo Hayes and Undertaker. 

On the marquee for NXT Halloween Havoc night two is Carmelo Hayes challenging Ilja Dragunov for the NXT Championship. Hayes earned that opportunity on the 10/10 NXT when he bested Bron Breakker in the main event. 

In Hayes’ corner for the aforementioned bout was John Cena and in Breakker’s corner was Paul Heyman. Post-match, The Undertaker appeared and confronted Breakker after Breakker stated that he is the ‘biggest badass’ around. 

After Undertaker chokeslammed Breakker, he embraced Carmelo Hayes and there was an off-air moment involving the two where they raised their arms in the air before walking backstage. Hayes guest appeared on the Black Rasslin’ Podcast and said that moment was not planned and ‘Taker called for it on the fly. Hayes added that up until that point, he kept everything professional but his inner fan came out when that happened. 

And the whole thing with ‘Taker at the end (of 10/10 WWE NXT)… I didn’t know that was gonna happen. I was just following him back. I didn’t know what the frick to do. I’m standing there like, Undertaker, and we’re off-air. I’m just kind of following him around like a lost puppy and then he’s telling me, he’s like, ‘Wait.’ I’m like, oh shoot. He’s like, ‘Alright, on three, turn back.’ I’m thinking, I’m like, okay, turn back. ‘Alright, back,’ turn back. ‘Alright, when the music drops, throw up the arm.’ It’s like, oh sh*t. So one, two, three, boom and then he’s like, ‘Alright, let’s go,’ and I got to the back, ‘That was so freaking cool!’ He just patted me on the back.

That’s when I finally let go of all that professionalism and allowed myself to really take it in. It took me like three or four days to really soak all that in but that was just amazing. But we gotta do TV next Tuesday so I let that be where that was and focus on what’s next. 

Also on the bill for Halloween Havoc night two is a Tables, Ladders and Scares match featuring The Creed Brothers (Julius & Brutus Creed) versus Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo. 

Before that match, The Creeds accepted an open challenge that Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis) put out for the 10/30 Monday Night Raw. 

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Black Rasslin’ Podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.

About Andrew Thompson 9833 Articles
A Washington D.C. native and graduate of Norfolk State University, Andrew Thompson has been covering wrestling since 2017.