Carmelo Hayes recently appeared as a guest on The Masked Man Show with Kaz for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the former WWE NXT World Champion spoke about advice he received from Shawn Michaels, the pressure he is dealing with heading into his run on the WWE main roster and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On advice Shawn Michaels gave him: "He told me, straight up, ‘You can never take a day off. A lot of these guys can take a day off and they’ll be accepted, but you can never take a day off or phone it in. It sucks in a way, but at the same time, I’m open to the challenge because the bar, for some reason, is raised higher because of my size. People are expecting way more. I can’t make mistakes. Not on top of my size, but being perceived as someone who is being pushed to the forefront. I feel a lot of criticism from people off everything I do. I’ve had the microscope on me for a long time.”
On all the pressure he is dealing with at this point in his career: "I’m kind of used to it now, but the bar is very higher. One, when you’re a Shawn Michaels guy. Two, when you’re a first round draft pick. Three, being undersized. Four, being of color. There are a lot of things that come into play with that pressure. I’m open to that challenge and looking to prove people wrong. As far as Shawn Michaels goes, he gives me that advice all the time. 'You have to be better than the rest at everything. You can’t lack. What you lack in size, you have to make up for in every other category.'"
Check out the complete interview at Spotify.com. H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.
