Since 2014, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal has been a tradition amongst the WWE WrestleMania week festivities (excluding the 2020 iteration), with former NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes emerging as its latest winner. During an interview with “The Battleground Podcast,” Hayes looked back on the notable victory, which came courtesy of his final elimination on Andrade.

“I was always championship gold oriented. I didn’t grow up saying I wanted to win the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, but it was cool, man,” Hayes said. “It did feel like it was a little bit of a reward for my hard work, but like I said, I was championship oriented regardless, so it wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t just like, ‘Yeah, I won the battle royal.’ No, it was [a feeling of] I want to be a freakin champ. You know what I mean? This is cool, but like where’s my title? I’m looking for the gold, but it was a cool moment. The crowd’s reaction, it was really cool to hear that so many people were excited I was finally getting some momentum.”

At the time of his Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal win, Hayes was a year removed from his main roster call-up, and as he indicated, eager to claim more WWE championship gold. It wasn’t until December 2025, though, that Hayes finally fulfilled that goal by dethroning Ilja Dragunov as WWE United States Champion.

The field for this year’s battle royal honoring “The Eighth Wonder of the World” has yet to be revealed, though given that Hayes is now titleless heading into WrestleMania 42 week, it is possible that he may compete in it again.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “The Battleground Podcast” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.