Carmelo Hayes appeared to have a clear path toward WrestleMania 42, but he lost his Men's United States Championship — and his spot on the card — just weeks before the event took place inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Melo issued one of his open challenges on the March 27 edition of SmackDown, and wound up dropping the title to Sami Zayn due to outside interference from his old buddy Trick Williams.

Given his history with Trick, and the way he lost championship to Sami, it would have made sense to feature Hayes as part of a triple threat match for the Men's U.S. Title at the 'Showcase of the Immortals'.…