WWE United States Champion Carmelo Hayes was itching for a fight on this week’s WWE SmackDown, looking for another adversary to take on his U.S. Open Challenge, and that’s exactly what he got. Backstage, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis said he has the right man to challenge Carmelo for the United States Championship, calling him an international phenom more than worthy to take on Melo this Friday night. Once the time was right, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. would pop up on SmackDown.
For the WWE Universe who doesn’t know El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. yet, well, he has an illustrious resume around the world. First of all, he comes from Lucha reality, being the grandson of Dr. Wagner and the son of Dr. Wagner Jr. He’s also dominated Japan, as he’s a former one-time GHC Heavyweight and National Champion, along with a couple of GHC Tag Team Championships with former WWE Tag Team Champion Rene Dupree.
Currently, he performs for AAA as the AAA Latino American Champion. Thus far, Carmelo Hayes has impressively and successfully defended the United States Title on six different occasions, against the likes of Matt Cardona, The Miz, Ilja Dragunov, and Johnny Gargano, among many others.
El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. more than gave Melo what he bargained for, showcasing that AAA-signature high-flying, risk-taking, speed-breaking pace, while also showcasing a ton of power along the way, catching Melo off guard more than a handful of times throughout the match. Unfortunately, not even El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. could put away Carmelo.
El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. would execute a Powerbomb late in the match, almost landing him the win and the U.S. Title, but it was not nearly enough. Before we all knew it, Carmelo Hayes would hit Nothing But Net and snag his seventh straight successful title defense in the U.S. Open Challenge.
