The main event of this past Friday night’s episode of WWE SmackDown featured WWE United States Champion Sami Zayn defending his newly won championship against Carmelo Hayes, the man he defeated to become the reigning champion.
Zayn ultimately retained his title after a closely contested battle. During the match, Carmelo injured his left leg, but Zayn seized the opportunity to deliver the Helluva Kick and secure the pinfall while the referee was attending to Carmelo in a corner. The show concluded with Trick Williams and Lil Yachty standing tall after taking down Zayn.
According to PWInsider.com, the match was produced by Chris Park, also known as Abyss. This match followed a segment earlier in the show involving Zayn, Hayes, Trick Williams, and Lil Yachty. During that segment, Hayes expressed his dissatisfaction with Zayn's actions during their title match, specifically regarding Zayn capitalizing on Trick's interference to win the title. Zayn acknowledged his respect for Carmelo but initially refused to jeopardize his WrestleMania 42 spot by agreeing to a rematch.
However, after Trick questioned Zayn's integrity and Zayn reflected on his own past experiences of similar situations, he ultimately consented to a match. Carmelo then urged Zayn to do the right thing, leading Zayn to agree to the rematch later that night. In the end, Zayn retained the title and will now defend it against Trick Williams at WrestleMania 42.
