‘The Fans Weren’t Sure How To Feel About Me’ – Carmelo Hayes Addresses Crowd Reaction On WWE Main Roster Before Babyface Turn

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Carmelo Hayes has addressed the reaction of the crowd before he turned babyface and received a sustained push on WWE SmackDown.

From his WWE main roster call-up in April 2024 until October 2025 Carmelo Hayes wrestled as a heel on SmackDown and saw little in the way of substantial opportunities in his role, aside from an occasional pursuit of the United States Championship and a 2025 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal win.

After the breakup of his Melo Don’t Miz tag team with The Miz (see below), Hayes’ fortunes picked up and he took the positive fan sentiment he had built and turned it into a United States Championship win over Ilja Dragunov in December last year.

With fans voicing their support for Hayes both on social media and live at WWE shows following his eventual US Title loss to Sami Zayn, just weeks ahead of WrestleMania 42, it’s safe to say that the WWE audience are invested in seeing the 31-year-old succeed.

Recalling his time as a heel during an interview with Michael Fairman, Hayes recalled feeling a sense of apathy from the crowd due to them not being given a strong enough reason to dislike him in the first place.

Hayes said:

“I did feel at one point the fans weren’t sure how to feel about me. Like it almost was like they wanted to cheer for me but I was kind of telling them not to. It’s a warm feeling, you don’t want to be in that position.

“So the fact that we allowed them to say, ‘It’s ok to like this guy.’ I think they were like, ‘Ok good because we like this guy, we don’t know why we were supposed to not like this guy. He hasn’t done anything for us to not like him.’

“And I think the best heels come from where you learn to love somebody and then they break your heart and then you learn, ‘Ok, nah I hate you.’ But I never did anything to them so, they were just kind of didn’t really care one way or another. And then you’re going up against their favorite wrestlers and stuff. Why would they cheer you over them?”

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In the same interview, Hayes shared his honest feelings regarding his WWE US Title loss to Sami Zayn ahead of WrestleMania 42 – click here for full details.

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