WWE

NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes has named the recent NXT call-up who he believes will make the biggest impact on the WWE main roster.

During the 2023 WWE Draft, a number of rising NXT stars were officially moved to Raw and SmackDown.

Speaking with WWE Die Woche, Hayes predicted that Grayson Waller will be the star to make a big impact the quickest.

Praising his former NXT roster members, Hayes said:

“I’d probably say Grayson Waller (is gonna make a big impact the quickest on WWE’s main roster post-NXT) and that’s not even biased. I just know his drive.

“I’ve been very close with him and I’ve trained closely with him and I’ve worked closely with him and I just know his passion and his drive and he has that relentless factor that I have as well.

“That you refuse to come in second, you refuse to accept less for yourself. He’s somebody that I see just taking the bulls by the horn and riding it all the way through, you know, given the opportunity so yeah, definitely would go with Grayson Waller but I mean, there’s a ton of talent, even Zoey Stark is killing it, J.D. McDonagh’s gonna be great, Pretty Deadly’s gonna thrive.

“There’s so many great talent that are up there that came from down here. I’m just super excited for them and excited to watch to see how it all plays out.”

A number of notable WWE names, including Shawn Michaels and The Miz, have touted Waller as a future WWE main eventer.

Waller previously indicated that he was frustrated with the situation surrounding his main roster call-up.

Hayes is set to defend his NXT Championship at this weekend’s NXT Battleground premium live event.

The card for NXT Battleground on Sunday, May 28 is as follows:

NXT Championship – Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Bron Breakker

NXT Women’s Championship – Lyra Valkyria vs. Tiffany Stratton

Heritage Cup Championship – Noam Dar (c) vs. Dragon Lee

NXT Tag Team Championship – Mark Coffey & Wolfgang (c) vs. Brutus & Julius Creed

North American Championship – Wes Lee (c) vs. Joe Gacy vs. Tyler Bate

Last Man Standing – Dijak vs. Ilja Dragunov

Transcription via POST Wrestling.

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• Grayson Waller
• Carmelo Hayes
• nxt
• wwe

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