Carmelo Hayes Defends NXT North American Title, Issues Next Challenge

The A-Champ defeats Pete Dunne and throws down gauntlet for Stand & Deliver.

By Scott Carlson /

WWE.com

NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes successfully defended his title Tuesday night, toppling Pete Dunne in a pretty solid match on NXT 2.0.

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Afterward, Hayes declared he was "a freakin' gold mine" and that Fort Knox needed to be built around him. He then issued a pretty bold challenge, saying he was going to defend the North American title in the same type of match where he unified it with the NXT Cruiserweight Championship: a ladder match.

No challengers were announced, but considering he beat Roderick Strong at New Year's Evil to unify the two titles, beat Cameron Grimes two weeks ago and Dunne Tuesday, it's possible some or all three men could be involved. Or they could be forward-looking and try to line up new challengers during the next couple of weeks. Perhaps they'll do qualifying matches to fill out the slots.

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Hayes and his running buddy Trick Williams have been a highly entertaining act on the rebooted NXT, with Melo cashing in his NXT Breakout Tournament contract to capture the NA title in October by beating Isaiah "Swerve" Scott.

This ladder match is only the second bout announced for NXT's Stand & Deliver event, which is slated to take place during WrestleMania 38 weekend on April 2 before night one of the premium live event.

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