Six months ago, Sami Zayn was the hottest act in professional wrestling. The former “honorary uce” built up significant momentum over the course of 2022, experiencing a career resurgence during his time with The Bloodline. When Zayn was asked to prove his loyalty by attacking longtime friend Kevin Owens, he obliged. It was only when Roman Reigns demanded that Zayn bludgeon Owens with a steel chair, canonically asking him to end KO’s career, that Zayn turned on the manipulative Tribal Chief. This ignited Zayn’s fire to a new high, as going into his title match against Reigns at WWE Elimination Chamber in February, Zayn was the overwhelming fan favorite.
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Despite the audience’s best wishes, Reigns retained and went on to face Cody Rhodes at WWE WrestleMania 39 as scheduled. Zayn’s severance package was hardly a demotion, as he won the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles with Owens in the WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 1 main event, but falling short of the world title did leave him with a sour taste.
Sami Zayn’s WWE Frustrations
Speaking to Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Sami Zayn admitted he struggled to move past his WWE Elimination Chamber loss earlier this year.
“It was a little hard, if you want the truth,” Zayn said. “I don’t think I’m being controversial when saying this, but I’m not the chosen guy, obviously. I’ve been handed a lot of opportunities and I’ve delivered on a lot of those opportunities throughout my time in the company and I’m grateful for all of it. I don’t think anyone would say like, ‘Oh, clearly he was being positioned to be the top guy or to be the most popular guy on the show.’ Obviously, that’s not the case, and that’s fine.”
Zayn’s title shot against Roman Reigns was reminiscent of some of the most iconic “home crowd” matches in WWE history like Rob Van Dam at ECW One Night Stand 2006 and CM Punk at WWE Money in the Bank 2011. Both of those men left their home arenas as champion. Zayn did not.
“I don’t have bad things to say about anything involving that story, but if you’re asking me was it a tough pill to swallow to come that close and not quite make it? I’d be lying if I said no, it didn’t bother me at all,” Zayn continued. “There was a part of me that had problems digesting that.”
Today, Zayn and Owens are still Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, but their reign has hit some road bumps. Owens has been dealing with some injuries, consequently stalling the duo’s momentum. They also have not defended the titles on a premium live event since May.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on Zayn and Owens’s future as tag champions.
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