Cody Rhodes and Carmelo Hayes on SmackDown [Image via WWE.com]

The main event of SmackDown this week saw Cody Rhodes face a fresh face in Carmelo Hayes. While it was fascinating to watch a first-time-ever match, wrestling veteran Dutch Mantell felt WWE didn’t do enough throughout the show to promote it.

As expected, Cody Rhodes was front and center on a special edition of SmackDown as he advanced his Undisputed WWE Championship program with AJ Styles before joining Triple H to announce the first round of the 2024 Draft.

Carmelo Hayes would come out and seemingly challenge Cody Rhodes to a match, which was confirmed to headline the show.

Dutch Mantell revealed on Smack Talk that while booking Hayes against Rhodes was an ideal way to get the young star over, WWE didn’t keep him invested until the end of the night.

“It was a good way, but it didn’t hold me until the end of the show,” said the former WWE manager. [From 40:00 onwards]

Dutch Mantell stated that he was initially confused about whether Rhodes vs. Hayes was for the title, as WWE never specified it during the episode.

Mantell felt Cody Rhodes and Carmelo Hayes’ angle needed more promo time for him and maybe a section of the WWE Universe to get hyped about the main event.

“Well, what I thought about the first time I saw that, I thought the title was on the line. I was like, ‘Wait a minute?’ They can’t put the title on the line on this live show, and then he is going to Backlash with the title. They didn’t say anything about it, but it is what it is. We’ve seen it 100 times,” he added. [From 41:45 onwards]

When all was said and done, Cody Rhodes defeated Carmelo Hayes in a match designed to make the former NXT star look like a top prospect. Hayes might have lost to the Undisputed WWE Champion, but he might have more opportunities to claim the belt in the future.

Please credit Smack Talk and give an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.

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