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Carmelo Hayes Captures WWE Men's United States Championship On SmackDown

He was already HIM, but now Carmelo Hayes can call himself the Men's United States Champion after he defeated Ilja Dragunov Friday night on WWE SmackDown.
Rick Ucchino|
Feb 1, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Carmelo Hayes during the Men’s Royal Rumble match during the WWE Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Feb 1, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Carmelo Hayes during the Men’s Royal Rumble match during the WWE Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Carmelo Hayes picked up the biggest win of his WWE main roster career Friday night on SmackDown, when he defeated Ilja Dragunov to become the Men's United States Champion.

Dragunov was scheduled to host another open challenge, but instead he gave the opportunity to Hayes after Tommaso Ciampa cost him the title a few weeks back.

After both men put together another barnburner for the crowd in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Carmelo was able to close out the match by countering a coast-to-coast dive attempt by Dragonuv with a First 48. He then went up to the top rope himself and nailed the Nothing But Net to win the championship.

This is the first time that Melo has won a singles title in over two years, and it was his first ever championship victory as a member of the SmackDown roster.

Hayes signed with WWE in February 2021 and after a successful run in NXT, that included him winning the NXT Championship, NXT Men's North American Championship (twice), NXT Cruiserweight Championship and the NXT Breakout Tournament, Carmelo was drafted to SmackDown in the first round of the WWE Draft in April 2024.

Despite a few bright spots since then, such as his best-of-seven series against Andrade and his Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal victory, a large portion of the WWE Universe had begun to grow impatient with the company's lack of significant booking for Carmelo Hayes. He has all the talent in the world to be a future main event star and WWE Champion, and perhaps this is finally Melo's first big step into a much larger spotlight on Friday Night SmackDown.

The end of a great run for The Mad Dragon

Ilja Dragunov
Ilja Dragunov | WWE.com

The loss to Carmelo Hayes officially ended Ilja Dragunov's reign as the Men's United States Champion at 69 days, even though Friday night's show was filmed a week in advance.

It was a relatively short but massively impactful run for the Mad Dragon, who returned from ACL surgery back in October and captured the gold in his first match back against Sami Zayn.

Dragunov continued on the tradition of the United States Open Challenge and successfully defended the title on seven different occasions against the likes of Aleister Black, Nathan Frazer, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.

His in-ring work has been a constant highlight these past couple of months and the extremely high quality of his matches, especially so fresh off a serious injury, contributed heavily to Dragunov being named The Takedown on SI's Comeback Performer of the Year in 2025.

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Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino is the Assistant Editor & Content Coordinator for The Takedown on SI. He also works full-time for 700WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio as a local news and sports anchor, in addition to his time covering the Cincinnati Bengals for Sirius XM. Rick has been on the professional wrestling beat since 2019, having provided coverage for a number of outlets, including Fightful, SB Nation’s Cageside Seats and the Bleav Podcast Network. With an educational background in theater, creative writing and journalism, Rick focuses primarily on the storytelling aspect of pro wrestling, but he’s no stranger to the squared circle himself. He had the privilege of training with former WWE & WCW cruiserweight Jimmy Wang Yang for nearly two years and retired early due to back issues with a perfect 1-0 record in singles competition. Rick is a married father of two incredibly adorable children, who are budding pro wrestling fans themselves. Much to the chagrin of their mother. You can reach Rick at rwucchino@gmail.com

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