LA Knight has been quite the busy Champion, defending his United States Championship several times already since dethroning Logan Paul. Last week Carmelo Hayes earned the chance to take on Knight for the Title, and though he gave Knight a run for his money, Hayes’ rival Andrade would show up and cause a few distractions throughout the match. Knight would take down Hayes to retain his Title, but after a confrontation with Nick Aldis, it was revealed that Hayes and Andrade will have the tie-breaker match in their feud next week, and that person will earn a shot at Knight’s United States Championship.
Knight’s On A Roll
Knight knocked Hayes down three times in a row to start the match and then followed with a clothesline that knocked Hayes to the floor. Knight kicked Hayes into the announce desk thanks to a distraction from Andrade, who was standing at ringside watching the match play out. Knight slammed Hayes face-first into the announce desk a few times before throwing him into the table one last time, and then he went over to Andrade to try and shake his hand.
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Hayes capitalized and attacked Knight before slamming Knight into the ring apron, following it up with a clothesline to the floor. At this point, Andrade took a seat at the commentary desk, and Hayes hit a leg drop into a cover, but Knight kicked out rather quickly.
Hayes continued to be in control of the match throughout the commercial break, keeping the Champion from gaining any momentum in the ring. Knight was finally able to break the hold and get to his feet, hitting an inverted Atomic Drop into a clothesline. Then Knight caught Hayes and hit the pop-up slam into a quick cover, but Hayes kicked out. Hayes caught Knight with a kick to the head soon after, but he waited too long to capitalize and almost got pinned.
The Big Finish
Knight hit a Neckbreaker on Hayes and then went to the second rope and hit the Elbow Drop into a cover, but Hayes kicked out at 2. Knight went for the BFT but Hayes countered and hit the Scissor Kick and then a Cutter into a cover, but somehow Knight got his shoulder up in time. Hayes went for Nothing but Net but missed, though he almost got Knight’s shoulders down for a pin anyway. Knight hit the BFT after Hayes landed on his feet, and that was enough for the pin and the win. Knight is still the United States Champion.
Later in the episode, Hayes would have a conversation with Aldis backstage, bringing up the fact that Andrade was there causing trouble and if Aldis was just going to let him do whatever he wanted. Aldis then revealed that they are both tied at 3 wins apiece in their rivalry, and the winner of the next match will earn a shot at the United States Championship once more.
It remains to be seen where this goes from here, as this seems like the logical ending place for the back-and-forth gauntlet the two have been featured in. Both superstars have also been locked in a feud with Knight and have had shots at the Title one-on-one, so whoever wins this shot, it would make sense that either Knight would move on to different opponents, or there’s going to be some substantial shakeup to the storyline that will allow for this story to continue in a different way.
We’ll have to wait and see, but let us know what you want to see from this feud. You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!