Carmelo Hayes solidifies himself as NXT champion at Battleground

When Bron Breakker lost the NXT championship to Carmelo Hayes at Stand & Deliver last month, it wasn’t just about putting the title on the next big thing in the WWE developmental program. No, it was also about setting up a story to turn Breakker heel to see if he could reinvent himself. Naturally, then, they had to do a rematch with their new alignments.

That happened in the main event of tonight’s (Sun., May 28, 2023) Battleground event in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Breakker showed up sporting a new look:

Meanwhile, Melo was far more clever, putting an “H” on one arm and an “M” on the other. His body, of course, being the “I,” because he is HIM.

The match almost ended in disaster early, with Hayes coming up short on a dive to the outside where it sure looked like he could have severely hurt himself. Thankfully, Breakker is strong as hell and saved him from a bad landing.

The rest of the match was largely Breakker kicking Melo’s ass but the champ finding a way to stay alive until finally he got his own big offense in, with kicks into the back elbow off the ropes into Nothing But Net for the pinfall.

Hayes stood tall to end the show.

Get complete Battleground results and coverage of every match on the card right here.