It was one of those nights where “SmackDown” felt every bit of its three hours, but one of the bright spots was Carmelo Hayes calling out United States Champion Trick Williams. Sure, Williams cost Hayes the gold over a month ago, before WrestleMania, but at least we’re following up on a storyline rather than WWE expecting us to forget.

Which is great, considering all of the mega-fans of Hayes (myself included) were not going to let it slide, especially with the history between the two men. They had a great feud in “WWE NXT” before Hayes was the first to be called up, and it was inevitable that they’d be back on the crash course after Williams won the United States Championship.

I really liked that when Hayes confronted Williams tonight, he made it clear he wasn’t going out there to try and discredit the champion for everything he’s accomplished so far in such a short amount of time. Hayes said he always believed in his former friend, but there’s a huge difference between holding a championship and being a champion. He called him out for a rematch for the gold tonight, but Williams reminded everyone that the US Championship Open Challenge ended with him, but he’d give ‘Melo an “a** whooping for free,” meaning a match without the title.

Lil Yachty was great through all of this, and by that, I mean he didn’t take up too much of the spotlight. He pulled out Williams “schedule” ahead of the match as if he were penciling Hayes in, then almost went after him with a kendo stick on the outside. His involvement was good, and just enough.

I know these guys were involved in a triple threat match since Williams’ call-up a while ago, but it was so nice to see them in singles action. They have so much chemistry, but with Williams currently the bigger deal on “SmackDown” with the title, him throwing Hayes around just felt so different from their time in “NXT,” when Williams was Hayes’ sidekick, which was a good thing.

Another part I really liked about all of this was the involvement of Ricky Saints, who I think should also be in the United States title picture. He was defeated by Hayes last week, but that didn’t stop him from getting in his business tonight. Williams wasn’t having it, however, and at one point, pushed Saints down hard at ringside. Saints continued to get involved, though, and did end up costing Hayes the match. While I do want to see Hayes vs. Williams for the title, I think Saints needs to be involved to give him something exciting to do since his main roster call-up.

Written by Daisy Ruth