Sami Zayn is among the elite list of individuals who have both main evented WrestleMania and won the WWE World Championship. Surprisingly, however, he never dreamed of doing so.
According to Zayn, both feats were beyond a young wrestling fan’s wildest dreams.
“I was like, ‘I have ideas, I don’t have plans,'” Zane said “Insight with Chris Van Vliet.” “I know I’d like to get there, so I usually work towards something and it ends up there. Then you get there, but I’m not charting it.”
“… I never looked at it like I want to become a champion,” he continued. “I just looked at it like I want to do it. Maybe it’s inclusive, I want to do it well, and I want to do it well enough to elicit the same reactions that my favorites get, and so those reactions can lead to the same championship wins or wonderful legacies that my heroes have had.”
Within three months, Zayn became a two-time WWE World Champion. His first reign began at Night of Champions on June 27 when he pinned Cody Rhodes in a triple threat to win the Undisputed WWE Championship. At the time, Zayn noted that no matter how long his title reign lasted, he would be forever grateful because it was the concept. for a long time he felt “unintelligible”.
Zayn’s first reign ultimately lasted nine days, ending at the hands of CM Punk on WWE Raw. Two months later on WWE SmackDown, they met in a rematch with Zayn wins! Officially begins his second run with the title after overcoming interference from Kevin Owens.
Zayn never envisioned himself as the main trainer at WrestleMania
Back in 2023, Zayn and Owens had it accomplished another fantastic feat togetherWinning the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles in the main event of WrestleMania 39. Like the world championship gold, Zayn mentioned that the younger version of himself never envisioned his older self as a mainstay on WWE’s grandest stage. In fact, he believes the concept has only taken off in the last decade.
“Here’s one that I really like to pick, but people say, “That was my dream to main event WrestleMania.” I say: “Let’s hold on a second.” This whole WrestleMania main event became the talking point like it has been for the last 10 years,” Zayn said. “You know what I mean, no kid likes, ‘One day I’ll be the main event.’ Because when you’re a kid, you don’t think, at least I don’t, you don’t think about that kind of commercial success. You just think “I want to do this”.
Zayn admitted that some of his peers might have really fancied themselves as a main event performer on “The Coolest Stage of All.” His 11-year-old self, however, could only follow the abstract idea of wrestling.
“It’s not very clearly worded. It’s just like, ‘Wow, I want to do that,’” Zayn echoed.
At WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles, Zayn and Owens dethroned Jimmy and Jey Uso as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions when he delivered a stunner followed by a Helluva Kick. Their reign lasted five months, later ending at Judgment Day at that year’s WWE Payback premium live event.
If you use any of the quotes from this article, please give credit “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” with ah/t to Wrestling Inc. for transcription.
