Carmelo Hayes doesn’t appear to be done with his rivalry with Andrade, as he noted in a recent interview. Hayes battled Andrade for the fifth time in a couple of months on last week’s episode of Smackdown with a US Championship match on the line. Andrade got the win, but Hayes suggested in an interview with Steven Muehlhausen for Sports Illustrated that he may not be ready to let go of the feud. You can see highlights below:
On the feud ‘culminating’ last week: “Did it culminate? Maybe on one side. Maybe on one side, it’s culminated.”
On being part of the five-match series with Andrade: “It feels like an opportunity to get guys who are hungry and didn’t have a direction at the time. It was like, ‘Hey, we know we got these two studs. Let’s see what we make out of it. I don’t know if it was fully planned, and who knows how far we will take it. But personally, I’m not okay with losing in five when I know there can be seven. I’ve seen all these other guys go to seven. What makes this different? Why does this only go to five? He didn’t sweep me. He’s just barely beating me every time.
“You have to remember that I’m still learning the ropes. I can afford to lose here and there. But believe me, when I figure this thing out, it might be seven matches, but when I figure this thing out, I’m coming out on top. I have to tighten up, and I have to lock in and figure out the next two matches if I want them or what my angle will be. But he has a match against LA Knight for the U.S. title. I guess if that’s what you want to call a culmination, and that’s a culmination, but don’t think I’m not going to spin the block on him or LA Knight.”
