During a recent interview on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast, WWE NXT world champion Carmelo Hayes discussed joining WWE and telling Shawn Michaels he didn't want to be a "205 Live" guy:

“I knew when I first got there, I wanted to be something different. I remember black and gold era. Everybody talks about and romanticizes the black and gold era so much and it was great. It was awesome in the peak, but right after the whole thing with COVID in that ThunderDome era of WWE and NXT, it was kind of on a decline in a way. I remember watching the show as a brand new signee and I’m thinking, man, there’s so much missing here that I feel I could bring to this show. There just needs to be something like, nobody’s doing this, nobody’s doing this, nobody’s doing this. I’m like, man, I just need the opportunity. So I worked hard for like four or five months in the Performance Center just getting ready and working the little live event shows that we had.”

“Finally they gave me a shot, they gave me my name, and then two days later they gave me a shot against Kushida for the Cruiserweight title in my debut. After that match, I had done really well, but I remember talking to Hunter [Triple H] after. I was like, ‘Man, I know I could do so much better.’ Then I remember talking to Shawn [Michaels] and I was telling Shawn straight up, I said, ‘Man, I really want to be a top guy. I don’t want to get like, nothing wrong with 205 Live. I know I’m undersized, but I don’t want to be a 205 Live guy.’ Shawn will even say to this day that he kind of respected that I had the balls to come up to him and tell him that, and here we are. I bet on myself at that very moment and that was something that I just believed. It was like, I know I have a lot to offer for this brand. Just give me the ball.”