New US Champion Carmelo Hayes responds to former WWE Superstar after his sudden exit from the company

Carmelo Hayes has responded to a former WWE Superstar after winning the United States Championship. On last week's SmackDown, Hayes defeated Ilja Dragunov to win the title in a spectacular match.

Hayes' former rival Andrade reacted to his title win on X. The Mexican star congratulated the 31-year-old and thanked him for their matches on SmackDown in 2024.

"Congratulations brother!! @Carmelo_WWE You deserve it! Thank you for those great matches!," Andrade wrote.

Carmelo Hayes responded to the former WWE Superstar, expressing gratitude. Hayes stated that he improved each time he shared the squared circle with the Mexican star.

You can check out the heartfelt interaction below:

After an underwhelming initial run, Carmelo Hayes has finally secured his first singles title on the main roster. The Mad Dragon was on a dominant run as the US Champion, and by dethroning him, Melo has gained a lot of momentum. It remains to be seen if he continues the tradition of hosting US Title Open Challenges every week.

As for Andrade, he abruptly left the Stamford-based promotion on September 13. His last match in the global juggernaut came at SummerSlam, where he teamed up with Rey Fenix in a Six-Pack TLC Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but failed to capture the titles.

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Carmelo Hayes and Andrade had a best-of-seven series in WWE

Hayes and Andrade had a highly acclaimed best-of-seven series in WWE last year. The two had won three matches each, and the series culminated on the October 25 episode of SmackDown, which was for a shot at the United States Title.

Their last match ended in a disqualification due to the then-US Champion, LA Knight, who served as the special guest referee for the bout. The series had no clear winner, but it captivated the WWE Universe, with both Melo and Andrade giving their all in fast-paced, back-and-forth action.

It will be interesting to see how the 31-year-old fares as the United States Champion.

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Edited by Parth Pujara