After jumping in the way of a spear from Bron Breakker that could have effectively iced out the top contender for the NXT Championship before he could even get in the ring with Ilja Dragunov, Carmelo Hayes made incredible headlines around the professional wrestling world by turning on Trick Williams at the end of the main event, beating his friend down with a chair to a borderline hard-to-watch degree.

Social media was shocked, NXT‘s tightest tag team was no more, and fans eagerly tuned into NXT on Tuesday to see how Hayes would account for his actions, even if it was pretty clear he wasn't going to apologize for his actions.

Walking out to the ring in the opening segment of NXT, Melo opted to leave fans waiting after listening to a chorus of “F you Melo,” opting to instead save his words for the top of hour two. Fortunately, fans weren't disappointed, as Melo's promo, cut sitting in the very chair he beat Trick with, was worth the wait.

“The villain is always the villain when the hero is telling the story. But why is it nobody wants to hear my side? Trick, I'm not jealous of your success, I allowed you to succeed; I wanted you to acheive the highest of highest in this business, I wanted you to make your parennts proud. And just when you got close enough, I had to be the one to take it away from you just to remind you of your place; just to remind you what happens when you cross me; when you bite the hands that feed you,” Trick Williams told fans in the Performance Center.

“Because the truth of the matter is, Trick, you crossed me first. We had an agreement: you were going to go after the North American Championship, and I was gonna go for the NXT Championship. But you, you let all of these people get in your head, and you started to believe in your own hype; you believed you and me were on the same level. No way. Trick, you went behind my back and went after something that belonged to me and in that very moment, I knew I had to do what I had to do.

“So the million dollar question that everyone wants to know: Did I attack Trick Williams? You're d**m right I did, and I'd do it again if he crossed me. ”

Unfortunately for Hayes, his line was interrupted as Williams' music hit, and the crowd went wild to see their favorite homegrown star… or did they? As much like his mentor, Shawn Michaels before him, sometimes a heel queues for their opponent's music to hit, even if they aren't in the building.

Carmelo Hayes lays out the difference between himself and Trick.

Watching the crowd eat from the palm of his hand in a way that would make HBK proud, Carmelo Hayes sat back and laughed, noting that fans shouldn't expect to see Trick Williams for a very long time.

“Hahaha, wow, wow. Man, can't get nothing past you guys, huh? Hey, Trick Williams ain't coming back, he's laid up in a hospital bed next to Booker T chanting that stupid a** song. Hey, I don't know why everybody's so surprised, I've been this way; I'm the coldest, I'm Melo,” Carmelo Hayes explained.

“You're talking about a two-time North American Champion, I'm talking about a two day North American Champion; Trick and I are not the same. You got so caught up in these headlines that you pushed your boy to the sidelines. But you and everyboyd else here need to know that nothing on this brand gets passed without being passed by Carmelo Hayes. So Trick, you wanted to be like Melo so bad, you started wearing your glasses like Melo, sliding on the apron like Melo, wearing the same gear as Melo, but at the end of the day, you're just a Trick. This was never a collaboration, Trick, you were always my hype man. That's all it is and that is all you will ever be.”

Welp, there you go, folks; Melo is in full-on post-Montreal Screw Job HBK heel mode, and he's got his sights set on becoming a two-time NXT Champion before his time in developmental comes to an end, as his decision to attack Ilja Dragunov with the belt after his match against Dijack clearly proved. Fortunately, before Melo eventually jumps to the main roster, he'll likely get a chance to square up with his former hypeman to see who is the better man after all.