For over four years, WWE fans have been watching Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams. They started as friends on NXT. After some success from Williams, Hayes betrayed him. A steel cage match sent Hayes to the main roster while he became NXT Champion.
After a great run with the title, he debuted on Friday Night SmackDown in January. The two men then met up in the lead-up to WrestleMania: Vegas in a storyline involving Sami Zayn’s WWE United States Championship.
Hayes won it last December, but Zayn beat him in March. The following month featured a build for the US title match between Williams and Zayn, with the former winning it at WrestleMania.
After ending an extremely polarizing feud with Zayn, he was left with an open book in terms of challengers for the title. Out walked his former friend, who knows everything about him. Would a tense confrontation lead to a match between these two long-term friends turned rivals?
A Ricky Saints Distraction Costs Carmelo Hayes the Victory
Before Hayes walked out to confront Williams, he had some more business to take care of. Last Friday on the May 15, 2026 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, he defeated Saints in a great match. He decided to take out his emotions on him once again this week. Saints was walking backstage when he got beaten down, which would be very important later on in the show.
When he confronted Williams, he told him that there’s a difference between a champion and a title holder. He wanted a match now, but Lil Yachty interrupted him, saying that Williams had a busy schedule. That angered him, as he said the old Williams wouldn’t let someone talk for him. Things escalated, and it became official.
They started the match by locking up and throwing each other against the ropes. Williams knocked him down and slammed him to the ground. After some rope runs, he responded with a drop kick. He got Williams into the corner and started chopping him. But he didn’t like it, as he did the same thing to Hayes, but harder. When he stopped, he got some more chops to his chest before a failed pinfall by Hayes was applied.
A uranage was delivered to him in response, but Williams didn’t get the victory quite yet. More offense by him made it look like the match was nearly done, but Hayes flipped him over the ropes onto the ground. He was going to jump, but Lil Yachty went to check on his friend.
That led to the jump being stopped. They got back in the ring, Williams immediately applying a headlock to Hayes. The latter got out of the headlock, starting a sequence of punches between them.
A jumping neckbreaker by Trick Williams afterward sent them to the ground. He got up first, but spotted Saints ringside. Hayes delivered a springboard, and Saints wasn’t happy.
He went for the Dirty Diana, but couldn’t get the pin. Both men had a flurry of offense toward each other, but this time Williams had the failed pinfall. A First 48 by Hayes also couldn’t get it done. He was looking for Nothing But Net, but Saints distracted him from doing the move. Williams knocked him off the turnbuckle and onto the arena floor.
He got him back in the ring after he shoved Saints to the ground. Hayes then had the pinfall, but the referee didn’t see it thanks to Saints. He then got hit with a Trick Shot by Williams, which ended the match. Had Carmelo Hayes minded his own business, he would’ve won, leading to a potential title match between him and Williams. Instead, he lost a very important match. It seems like the battle between Carmelo Hayes and Saints has only just begun.
