Carmelo Hayes' WWE Girlfriend Breaks Silence After Shock Title Win on SmackDown

WWE Superstar Carmelo Hayes defeated Ilja Dragunov on this week’s episode of SmackDown to become the new United States Champion. This was his second title shot, and Melo didn’t miss. Following his win, his girlfriend, Kelani Jordan, has shared a new update.

Taking to X (fka Twitter), the inaugural NXT Women’s North American Champion shared pictures where she and Hayes were celebrating Christmas together. Melo had the United States Championship on his shoulder, and both of them were dressed in comfortable Christmas-themed clothes. Captioning the post, Jordan wrote:

A few members of the WWE Universe were confused, wondering how Melo reached home and changed into Christmas clothing right after SmackDown ended. However, the episode had already been taped last week, and Hayes was already home for the holidays while the episode aired this Friday.

Carmelo Hayes got attacked immediately after his title win

After a clean and decisive defeat, Ilja Dragunov put the United States Championship around the waist of Carmelo Hayes instead of letting the referee hand the title to the new champ. The Mad Dragon then raised his opponent’s hand before the fans of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a brilliant display of sportsmanship.

Following this, Hayes was speaking to Cathy Kelley in a backstage interview. He was thanking Dragunov and talking about what was next for him as the new champ when Johnny Gargano launched an unexpected attack on him. The DIY member stated that Melo had ruined everything, and he also claimed that the US Title belonged to him, not Melo.

Gargano hadn’t shown any interest in the United States Championship before. Rather, his teammate Tommaso Ciampa was desperate for the belt. It remains to be seen if Gargano will become Melo’s first title defense opponent.

This is the first main roster championship victory for Carmelo Hayes. The 31-year-old made his debut on SmackDown last year and was referring to himself as the first draft pick. It would be interesting to see how 2026 turns out for Melo, as he will begin the new year as a titleholder.

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Edited by Sanchari Bhattacharya