The blue brand has a new home. Earlier this month, WWE officially pivoted WWE SmackDown from FOX to USA Network, returning the Friday-based show to the channel it aired on from 2016 until 2019. WWE SmackDown shifting locations is the first of three major migrations for WWE in the coming months, as WWE NXT is set to leave USA Network for The CW in October and WWE Monday Night Raw also exits USA for Netflix in January. While on-screen storylines have operated as usual over this transition period, WWE made an added effort to give WWE SmackDown a total facelift come moving day.
“It’s crazy because like I said, sometimes when you’re in the mix, you don’t realize things around you,” WWE SmackDown star Carmelo Hayes told ComicBook. “That makes me realize like, I didn’t really take the moment in the moment to realize what was going on around me. It was really cool and at the same time, as far as SmackDown goes, it feels like it’s the beginning of a new era. It’s super special that I get to be a part of that for sure.”
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That’s Carmelo Hayes, one of WWE SmackDown‘s first round selections from the WWE Draft earlier this year. Carmelo joined the main roster with much fanfare, coming off a decorated run in WWE NXT that saw him headline multiple NXT premium live events and hold the NXT Championship.
“It feels more like when we went to 2.0,” Carmelo said when asked about how WWE SmackDown changing networks compared to WWE NXT rebranded three years ago. “It was like that switch of, ‘Hey guys, we’re getting ready to do something different, getting ready to do something special.’ It definitely had that feeling in the air, that same feeling in the air I felt when we switched to 2.0 when we in revealed that new set. That’s probably the closest I’d say that I felt to that.”
Carmelo has gradually cemented himself as one of WWE SmackDown‘s most reliable TV talents. He kicked off his blue brand run by matching up against WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and impressed audiences in recent weeks with his series of matches against Andrade.
“The only direction that was given was don’t hold back,” Carmelo noted regarding his WWE SmackDown on USA Network premiere match against Andrade on September 13th. “When you tell two talents who are very hungry in their careers and just want to make a name for themselves ‘don’t hold back,’ I think that’s what you get. It’s one of those things where to get their trust and for me being so new, it’s something that I needed coming to the main roster. It’s hard to try to get in where you fit in, especially on the main roster which is full of guys who are stars, made stars, Romans and Codys and KOs and Randys and LA Knights. I’m glad I was able to do that thing with Andrade.”
On the topic of those main event-caliber stars, Carmelo added that he feels himself evolving just by rubbing shoulders with WWE SmackDown‘s titans.
“I feel like there’s like an unlimited amount of knowledge around me at all times. It really makes me want to level up,” Carmelo added. “Being on the main roster, there’s just so many levels to this game and when you think you unlock the new one, there’s another one right after that. I think I had talked to Cody one time and he admitted the same thing. He’s like, ‘Shoot, I’m still trying to figure it out too.’ Being around all these top guys, it’s good company to keep.”
One of those top guys is Roman Reigns. Reigns returned to programming this past August at WWE SummerSlam after a four-month hiatus and has slowly interwoven himself back into weekly WWE SmackDown broadcasts.
“Obviously it’s a little bit more, you know, the ante is a little bit more up,” Carmelo said of how the WWE SmackDown atmosphere changes when Reigns is on the show. “But we all still go out the same way and go out and try and kill it, regardless of whether Roman is there or not. The stakes are still high. We still want to put on a good show.”
That “put on a good show” mentality is not just a heat-of-the-moment mindset. While significant spotlight will shift to WWE NXT and WWE Monday Night Raw when they make their moves to The CW and Netflix, respectively, Carmelo plans to remain locked in on making WWE SmackDown the best it can be.
“I’m just focused on playing my position on my brand, wherever I’m at,” Carmelo said. “A lot of people used to talk about competition between the brands and things like that, but really, it’s just where you’re at in that moment, how can you make it the best that you possibly can? That’s just been my mindset even when I was in NXT. Shawn would always tell me to stop worrying about the main roster, focus on what’s in front of you. That’s kind of been my mindset ever since. Now that I’m in the main roster, let me focus on what I’m doing on SmackDown. I’m not thinking, ‘Oh, well, what if I got to go to Raw?’ No, let me just focus on week to week.
“I’m super excited for NXT moving to The CW. That first show looks so stacked. Even that St. Louis card looks stacked. Then going to the Netflix deal, I’m excited for that too. That helps everybody because we’ll all be on Netflix at that point. It’s going to open up so many more eyes to the product. So many people that didn’t tune into wrestling now have the opportunity to watch the replays of SmackDown, the replays of NXT, and then Raw live.”
WWE SmackDown airs live on USA Network every Friday at 8 PM ET.
