In early 2025, Hayes and The Miz formed a tag team, known as Melo Don’t Miz, with their first outing producing a victory on “SmackDown.” When Hayes later attempted to pursue singles gold, however, The Miz turned on him.
Regardless of their on-screen beef, Hayes has nothing but praise for Miz behind-the-scenes. Hayes specifically called Miz a “necessary” person to have in WWE.
“I remember at one point, despite whatever we have going on storyline wise, I was like, ‘Bro, just thank you for being here. I’m so happy that you’re here’ I just had to tell him that. I was like, ‘I’m just so happy you’re here, I’m here at the same time, and I’m getting to learn from you,'” Hayes recalled. “There’s a lot of times where I was feeling low. I was like I don’t know what’s going on, and the only person that’s ever been able to explain it to me is The Miz because he’s been high, he’s been low, he’s been in the middle. He’s done it so many times.”
With his first-hand experience at all levels of WWE, The Miz has implored Hayes not to get frustrated by his low moments, but rather view them as learning opportunities. “He gave me some advice where he told me, ‘Hey, when you’re at the top, it’s going to be easy because you figured out how to manage at the bottom,'” Hayes said. Furthermore, The Miz assured Hayes that everyone would get a chance to shine at the top of WWE at some point.
In his current reign as WWE United States Champion, Hayes has successfully defended his title against the likes of Ilja Dragunov, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Rey Fenix. Earlier this month, he also picked up a non-title win over The Miz.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Good Karma Wrestling” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.