Carmelo Hayes is your new WWE United States Champion, and recently revealed whether or not the open challenge for the belt will continue.
During Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown, Carmelo Hayes made his first appearance as the new champion. Backstage, the star ran into several faces, including the former champ who he beat, Ilja Dragunov. The two shared a moment, and that’s when the topic of the WWE United States Open Challenge came up.
Just in case there was any worry, Hayes said he planned on keeping the challenge going. He also told Ilja to come see him whenever he felt ready to “run it back,” with Dragunov noting he doesn’t feel like the two have seen each other for the last time. Hayes also ran into The Miz, who he surprisingly thanked…for leaving him alone after all this time.
Later on in the show, Hayes would defend his title in a match against Johnny Gargano. Hayes went on to have his first successful title defense, beating Gargano with a Nothing but Net to retain his title.
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What do you make of Carmelo Hayes’ comments? Are you happy the United States Open Challenge is set to continue in 2026? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
