Sami Zayn says WWE doesn't lean into politics anymore.
WWE has changed a lot over the years; while the company used to feature characters like Sgt. Slaughter and others who heavily leaned into the political climate, they have largely avoided these gimmicks and storylines in recent years.
During a virtual media event ahead of WWE Elimination Chamber, Jan Murphy (@jan_murphy) of the Toronto Sun asked Sami Zayn about the United States/Canada political climate in terms of its influence on WWE programming, and he noted that while WWE used to lean into politics, the company tends to go in the other direction these days.
"I don’t think truly that’ll factor into anything with regards to Elimination Chamber. I think WWE, I like to talk about wrestling at length and a reflective artform in the world with regards to history and sociology and how it kind of mirrors society at the time. Wrestling has always had a political representation of the zeitgeist at the time. The 90s, during the Persian Gulf War, we had Sgt. Slaughter with the Iraq stuff. Even prior to that, the 50s we had Nazi villains. Whoever the villains were in the political climate reflected in the world of pro wrestling. Now, in a strange way, we’re doing a anti-reflection reflection wherein we just simply don’t touch politics as a company. Nothing about the political climate is reflected in the product anymore. In some ways, that’s also a reflection of th society we currently live in and sensitivity to these things. I also think it’s because WWE is meant to be an escape from all of that stuff, especially the more real and more it’s felt on a day-to-day basis and it’s not an abstract idea. When you get into the conversation of tariffs, people are feeling bad at the grocery store or gas station; they are feeling it on a day-to-day life, or the potential to feel it is there. I think you want to go somewhere where you kind of forget about that stuff altogether. I think that’s what WWE provides now. Where politics has become so into the mainstream and it’s become into an entertainment form in its own right, which I have a lot to say about, but I won’t get into that. All of this is to say WWE, I think, is a place to kind of take that hat off and just enjoy it for what it is. Everybody who purchased tickets to Elimination Chamber is there for a great show, not there to think about this stuff or boo Americans or cheer Canadians. They are there for the show and we’re going to give them a great show," Zayn said.
Zayn recently commented on his contract status. Click here to see what he had to say.
Check out Zayn's comments about potentially forgiving Kevin Owens here.
Click here to see what Zayn had to say about taking a package piledriver from Kevin Owens.
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