Report: Another WrestleMania 38 Championship Match Lined Up, This Time Featuring a Celebrity

By Connor Casey

WrestleMania 38 is still well over a month away, but WWE seems to have something in mind for one of its championships at the April 2-3 event in Dallas. Spoilers for the upcoming edition of Friday Night SmackDown reveal that Sami Zayn became a three-time Intercontinental Champion by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura and, according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, the company is planning on booking Zayn vs. Johnny Knoxville with the title on the line. Knoxville popped up on WWE programming earlier this year and claimed he would become a world champion, entering himself into the Men's Royal Rumble and quickly getting involved with Zayn.

This led to Zayn eliminating Knoxville from the Royal Rumble as well as attempting to crash the Jackass Forever world premiere. It was around that same time that Knoxville claimed in interviews that he wasn't done with wrestling after the Rumble.

That lowdown, dirty Sami Zayn! Anyone but that lowdown and dirty Sami Zayn taking me out," Knoxville told ESPN's SportsNation. "But it took four men, four Superstars to take me out. But they haven't heard the last of me, I will be world champion."

Zayn was involved in one of WWE's celebrity cameos at last year's WrestleMania, getting Logan Paul involved in his feud with Kevin Owens leading up to their match at WrestleMania 37. He's done quite a thorough job of explaining why he detests Knoxville, explaining his actions leading up to the Royal Rumble in a lengthy Twitter thread. 

"Johnny Knoxville electrocuted me with a cattle prod on live television. Knoxville made his way into my world a few weeks ago when, after a less than pleasant interaction backstage, he snuck up on me (tough guy) and dumped me over the top rope. Thanks to the twisted logic of @WWE management, this somehow qualified him for the Royal Rumble match. Since he wanted to enter my world, I decided I would show him up at his own game and put on a show that would rival [Jackass]. This is how 'Inzayn' came about. In the debut episode, I was going to shock the world by jumping over the ring in a shopping cart. Sadly, this didn't end up taking place," Zayn said. "Mainly because the stagehands I hired to orchestrate the stunt were also contracted by @WWE and they neglected my specifications to make the stunt safe. My personal opinion is this was no accident (conspiracy). I could have been badly hurt."

"I decided episode 2 of 'Inzayn' would depend on no one but myself. To prove I was tougher/crazier than Johnny Knoxville, I'd do what he once did & do it better," he added. "I'd test dangerous self defense weapons on myself. It was painful, but went well...at first. I pulled out all the stops. I even shocked myself with the Livestock Jolt 3000 straight to the heart and was able to shake it off. I am really tough [it] turns out. Like, tougher than I even realized. That's when Knoxville showed up & made the RIDICULOUS claim that the cattle prod wasn't even turned on. Now Johnny Knoxville thinks he's a tough guy, but everyone is a tough guy when they're holding the Livestock Jolt 3000. So that's when it happened. All the while, I'm #1 contender to MY Intercontinental Championship! But Shinsuke Nakamura is ducking me, Johnny Knoxville is deranged & obsessed with me, and @WWE management has ignored all my messages. So I can't wait for the #RoyalRumble. this Saturday. Revenge will be mine."

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