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Carmelo Hayes has wrestling fans asking questions about his WWE future, and MJF just gave them another reason to talk.
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Hours after Hayes blacked out his profile picture on X, MJF shared an old photo of the two wrestling each other before either man reached WWE or AEW.
The photo comes from their time together on the independent wrestling scene, when Hayes still competed as Christian Casanova. MJF offered no additional context with the post.
The timing, however, is difficult to ignore.
Hayes has not appeared on WWE television in nearly two months. His last match came on the Aug. 14 episode of SmackDown, when he unsuccessfully challenged Baron Corbin for the United States Championship.
Carmelo Hayes Has Been Away From WWE
WWE has not publicly announced a reason for Hayes’ absence, and changing a social media profile picture certainly does not confirm that he is leaving the company.
MJF’s latest IG story of himself and Carmelo Hayes when Carmelo was Christian Casanova on the indies. pic.twitter.com/ZKMjyoMLkk
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— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) October 12, 2026
There have also been positive reports about Hayes behind the scenes. Sean Ross Sapp said during a Fightful Select Q&A in August that there had been nothing negative said about the former NXT Champion, who was described as professional, dependable and someone with considerable upside.
Still, his absence has attracted attention from wrestlers outside WWE.
Former WWE star Andrade asked Hayes, “Where are you, amigo?” on social media in September. Now one of AEW’s biggest stars has posted a reminder of his own history with Hayes on the same day Hayes made his cryptic social media change.
There is currently no indication that MJF’s post means anything for Hayes’ WWE future. Given MJF’s well-established tendency to troll wrestling fans online, the timing could simply be him having some fun with the speculation surrounding an old friend.
For my part, I just hope Hayes is back on television soon and given something meaningful to do. Heel or babyface, with or without Kelani Jordan, on the main roster or even back in NXT, Hayes is simply too talented to spend this much time off WWE programming. At this point, where he returns matters less to me than WWE finding a real role for him when he does.
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This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 7:30 PM.