The international professional wrestling company is the largest in the world. Their flagship show “Monday Night Raw’ is the longest-running weekly episodic program in television history without ever having a seasonal break or cancellation since its debut in 1993.
Ahead of tonight’s SmackDown show, Boston 25 News got a chance to talk with WWE wrestler and Framingham native Carmelo Hayes.
Like many Massachusetts wrestlers, Hayes got his foot in the door at The New England Pro Wrestling Academy in North Andover.
“I was going for my associate’s degree [at the time], so I was living in Worcester going to Quinsigamond Community College. So, I was trying to do that, and I was also working a full-time job,” Hayes said. “It’s crazy. I don’t know how I did it. I would train on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. I’d do my classes; I’d work in the morning and then go to training.”
He added, “It was an hour drive. And I ended up totally in my car one time; I got a whole bunch of speeding tickets. I had just turned 19. But I stayed committed, and it was hard. They talked all kinds of crap to me, but I used it as motivation.”
Prior to joining the WWE in 2021, Hayes wrestled under the ring name “Christian Casanova” across multiple independent promotions throughout New England.
Hayes says the first professional wrestling match he remembers seeing on television was Eddie Guerrero taking on Rob Van Dam in a ladder match on Monday Night Raw. He says his favorite wrestler was Edge, who now goes by Adam Copeland for WWE’s competitor, All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Hayes says his dream opponent would be Eddie Guerrero or Shawn Michaels (specifically from 1995).
Tonight at TD Garden, Hayes is going one-on-one with WWE veteran Baron Corbin for the United States Championship, a title Hayes has already held once.
The show starts at 7:30 PM, with tickets available on Ticketmaster.
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