WWE Speed: Carmelo Hayes furious after dual-elimination in NXT throwback match against Ilja Dragunov

There is a lot on the mind of Carmelo Hayes lately. The first-overall pick of WWE SmackDown hasn’t had the best run as of late, his most recent disappointment occurring at Money in the Bank on July 6, when he was unable to secure the briefcase despite having a stellar performance in the ring.

On the July 12 episode of SmackDown, he interrupted a promo by Andrade, the current WWE Speed champion, to tell the world they should be focused on him and not the legendary luchador — a slight that turned into Andrade wanting a match.

Hayes’ first shot at Andrade would only come if he could advance in the Speed tournament by defeating his age-old NXT rival Ilja Dragunov, but both were eliminated when the timer expired and no one had pinned or submitted the other.

WATCH: HAYES, DRAGUNOV CHANNEL NXT FEUD FOR SPEED

Needless to say, Hayes is fed up.

“Look Ilja, this ain’t the first time and it won’t be the last time,” he said after the match. “We can go three minutes or we can go 30 minutes but, at the end of the day, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m one of the best talents in this whole freaking world. You can throw me on Speed, but that doesn’t make me.

“I make Speed and, if I wanted to, I’d take that Speed championship and I’ll make that, too.”

Apparently he didn’t want to this time around.

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This doesn’t mean he won’t get his chance at Andrade because, as noted above, the two will square off on SmackDown soon and Hayes will either be taught a lesson, or he’ll be the one teaching it.

As for his ongoing disdain for Dragunov, put a pin in that for later.