Sami Zayn got elevated to main event status at the end of 2022 and going into 2023 thanks to his involvement in the Bloodline storyline.
Zayn worked to earn the trust of Roman Reigns, becoming an Honorary Uce and working alongside The Usos (Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso), Solo Sikoa, & Paul Heyman. Things came crashing down at WWE Royal Rumble when Zayn turned on Reigns, leading to the two squaring off at WWE Elimination Chamber in Montreal.
Despite rampant fan support, Zayn lost to Reigns in a match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
Speaking to Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Zayn reflected on the feud.
"No, it was a little hard, if you want the truth," Zayn said when asked if the loss was hard to deal with. "It was a little hard because, and I don’t think I’m being controversial in 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 with the company. I’m grateful for all of it, but clearly, I don’t think anyone would say, ‘Oh clearly, he was being positioned to be the top guy or be the most popular guy on the show.’ Obviously, that’s not the case, and that’s fine. But I guess in the back of your head, you’re always banking on your ability to get there. Somehow or another, you just feel like you’ll get there, and then it is hard to get there. It’s almost miraculous to get there, or to get one of these organic runs that the audience sort of wills into existence. You can probably count them on one hand in the last ten years with Daniel Bryan, Becky Lynch, Kofi Kingston, and myself. Who knows what’s happening with LA Knight? I feel like he’s starting to get a bit of that right now in the moment, and good for him. But all this is to say, it’s like a lighting-in-the-bottle type of a thing. You don’t get it very often. Then you kind of get it, and you’re like, ‘Well, you almost feel like the story, the audience, your performance, all of it, it’s just got you to the exact right place you dreamed you’d be. When you get there, it just kind of falls short, and you don’t know if you’ll ever get it back. You know what I mean? So for sure that’s hard. You don’t know if you can do it again.
"Like I said, it’s only happened a handful of times in the last ten years. I still think the investment and the equity that I have with the audience from that storyline, I think I’ve penetrated a lot of hearts, where I’ll stick around there for a while because I’ve made them feel all these feelings. I took them on that ride, and when somebody takes you on that ride and they penetrate your heart, they’re in there, and they gotta do a lot to get out of it. So now you’re probably gonna cheer them for years to come. So I got a lot out of that story, don’t get me wrong, it goes without saying. So if and when I do get to that mountaintop again or I get in the title picture and I’m a big challenger trying to fulfill my destiny, whatever it is, it might still get there, but it’ll just have a different feel. It’ll still be part of the overarching story of the character. But it just felt like one of those things like man, I forced their hand as much as humanly possible, and still just a buck short. It was a hard pill to swallow, for sure it was. Even though you kind of know what the plan is or where thin are headed or this and that, there’s kind of this hope that you hold onto like, ‘Yeah, but if the crowd is loud enough, and the story’s good enough, it’s kind of right there.’ It kind of felt like we got right there, about as close as any human being on earth could get without actually getting there. That’s as close as anyone on earth as ever come without getting there [laughs], but it’s fine because getting there on its own is an amazing feat. What I mean by getting there, it’s not beating Roman, but getting to that match where everyone wants you to beat Roman and getting an audience in that frenzy and experiencing an audience like that, being part of a story like that, very few people on earth can say they’ve ever done that. Like I said, I’ve been able to penetrate the hearts of so many fans to where now I’m in their good graces, regardless of the storyline that I’m in next. They love me because I made them feel all these different feelings, and that means a lot to me. 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. For sure, there was a part of me that had problems digesting that."
In the post-show press conference at WWE Elimination Chamber, Zayn admitted that he was a little down following the loss.
Reflecting on the press conference, he said, “I’m always just seeing it through my lens, and I hope I’m not saying something I shouldn’t be saying here. But when I did that press conference, if you go back and watch it, the first half of it especially, because I was… those were legitimate feeling. I was disappointed. I really genuinely felt like I let the city down because man, if you were in that arena, it was a buzz unlike…, the closest thing I could compare it to is Survivor Series 97. It really felt like a historic, like the whole city was just on board. Then losing just sucked the life out of them. It was really deflating, and I was right off the experiencing that, and that disappointment, and that sting that we’re talking about. I go and do this press conference right off the bat, and I’m answering as I’m answering you now. I always answer very truthfully, and I know sometimes it’s not the answers people want to hear. But I believe in just not BS-ing and just answering truthfully. That’s my interview style. For better, for worse, that’s what I went with this long in my career, and that’s what I continue to do. So I was asked questions, and I answered honestly.
"I was feeling that funk a little bit, and Hunter talked to me a day or two later. He was like, ‘Dude, what was with you in that press conference? You were such a downer. You gotta think of what those people saw. Those people just saw the culmination of this amazing story for the last year. They saw one of the most electric crowds ever. The whole night was amazing. You brought it down with that interview.‘ I kind of saw his point actually because I was looking at it through my lens. But it is true. If I step out of that disappointment for a week, people still talk to me about that match. People still talk about the atmosphere in that building. People still talk about whether I should have won or I shouldn’t have won. It’s this amazing point of contention that fans go back and talk about. It was just a historic match, and it was the hottest match. I can’t remember a time I’ve seen a crowd that hot for a match or a city that on board in such a real sports team kind of way. It was monumental, and I just hung up on, ‘Yeah, but I lost.’ So of course, I’m carrying some of those feelings with me. But again, what Hunter said was true. If you’re just a fan, you got to see something incredible. So that also helped me alter my state a little bit. That in conjunction with main-eventing WrestleMania [laughs]. It kind of got me thinking, ‘Yeah, he’s right. That was super special.’ I knew while I was doing it that it was special. I knew, but it’s just hard to untangle the feeling of disappointment that comes along with it. I knew it was special, I knew it was amazing, I knew how lucky I am to be in these shoes, but there’s still that part of me that goes, ‘But man, so close, but not quite.’ It’s just hard to compartmentalize that and go, ‘Hey, man, let’s focus on what you got to do.’ In the moment. So that’s why talking with Hunter, again, main-evented WrestleMania a few weeks later, it really helped put into perspective how special that all was."
Sami would go on to main event night one of WrestleMania, teaming with Kevin Owens to defeat The Usos and win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships.
"Greatly [laughs], yes. Let me tell you, that softened the blow a lot," he said when asked if main eventing WrestleMania helped take the sting out of the Elimination Chamber loss. "A lot. But at the time, I also didn’t know it. I only found out a little bit after that, and I was like oh, okay. It’s fine. To be honest, even that night, by the end of the night, no, that’s not true. I didn’t bounce back and kick out of it right away. It still lingered a little bit, this feeling of whatever you want to call it, disappointment. I’d be lying if I said that went away overnight. But absolutely, the fact that I got to main-event WrestleMania and win on top of it all in this really historic match, again, that’s a real testament to the storyline because that’s almost harder to do than main-eventing in a singles story. You’re breaking ground on something that just didn’t exist before, much the way the ladies, Becky and Ronda [Ronda Rousey] and Charlotte [Charlotte Flair] main-evented WrestleMania a few years ago. They carved out a space that didn’t exist before. While that was even more historic because it transcended gender limitations and things like that we never expected, this still did something slightly akin to that because it carved out something that didn’t exist before, and that’s very, very special. It was the story that did that, so that’s very, very special. It still ended in triumph for me as a character, which is very, very special. So for sure, I can not tell you how much that eased the sting of losing in Montreal. It helped a lot."
Zayn & Owens remain the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, but Owens is currently sidelined with an injury and Zayn is working through an injury of his own.
Fans can find Zayn's comments regarding his injury by clicking here.
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