Sami Zayn failed to capture the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WWE Elimination Chamber when he lost to Roman Reigns.
The Montreal crowd was behind Zayn and left disappointed when Roman ended the night as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Fan support grew for Sami to win the title in the build to WWE Elimination Chamber given the storyline between Zayn and the Bloodline.
Speaking to Jimmy Traina on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast, Paul Heyman discussed Zayn's journey and potentially changing plans.
"There's always an inkling to change any plan. The old expression is you have a test audience every week. We're very adaptable. We think we have a really good formula here and we think we have a really good path. I don't think you've seen the last of Sami Zayn. In fact, I guarantee you haven't seen the last of Sami Zayn nor Kevin Owens nor any of the other players in this act that we've put together. There was a very compelling reason to put Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn on Elimination Chamber. The timing was perfect, and oh my God, we just happened to be putting that show in Montreal, where the reception to Sami would be something that other audiences will aspire to top because they want to be the best audience ever," said Heyman.
Heyman discussed how ECW crowds in New York and Philadelphia would compete with each other and how competing crowds make for bigger stars. He hopes that crowds across the country will compete to be louder than Montreal.
Heyman continued, "We saw this Montreal opportunity, we also saw that the timing could not be better. We're heading into the Royal Rumble with Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns, and all the different opportunities that interweave themselves with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. The timeline for the story just fit. I understand that people have wanted Sami, more and more and more for Sami. That's the objective. We try to do that with every challenger. We did that with Drew McIntyre going to Cardiff, we did that with Brock Lesnar going into SummerSlam. We did that with the group in WarGames, Kevin Owens in the Rumble. We try to do that with everyone in the co-starring role with Roman Reigns in terms of who his opponent is going to be. Hopefully, on the flip side in being defeated by Roman Reigns, you are worth far more, have a more passionate fanbase, sell more merchandise and tickets, more famous, more accepted, more valued by the audience than you were before we got our hands on you. That's the object of what we do. I hope six months from now people are still clamoring more for Sami. That's what we do. We try to make stars out of everyone within our orbit."
Reigns will now defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39.
Zayn remains a regular on WWE television, appearing on both WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown to continue his story with Owens, the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso), and Solo Sikoa.
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