Sami Zayn entered Survivor Series at this time last year destined to ignite the hottest run of his career in WWE, his Honorary Uce character needing to prove himself to Roman Reigns and The Bloodline in WarGames.
“In some ways, it feels like just yesterday, but in other ways, it also feels like a lifetime ago because so much has happened since then,” Zayn said in a phone interview. “It’s funny to think that was only a year ago.”
What’s occurred since then is him smashing Reigns with a chair at the Royal Rumble to exit The Bloodline, losing to him in an emotionally charged Undisputed WWE Universal championship match at Elimination Chamber in his hometown of Montreal, he and his real-life and on-screen best friend Kevin Owens defeating The Usos for the Undisputed tag team championship in the Night One main event of WrestleMania 39 and the two being split up on separate brands since dropping the belts to The Judgment Day.
It’s left the 39-year-old Zayn in a position he’s never been in before in WWE: a legitimate main-event-level performer whose pure-heartedness and enthusiasm have allowed him to “deepen the bond” he has with the WWE audience.
He attributes some of it to getting to rub shoulders with Reigns and receiving the most television time he’s ever had despite being prominently featured throughout his WWE career.
“But this was by far the most depth to any sort of storyline that I ever got to sink my teeth into to take the audience along with me on that kind of ride,” Zayn said. “I think it did wonders for me. As far as the level of investment now with audiences, I think it’s definitely reached a different level.”
A year later, it’s made him an example of WWE’s babyface boom, setting up his team’s clash with The Judgment Day in the men’s WarGames match at Survivor Series at Allstate Arena in Chicago on Saturday (8 p.m., Peacock).
He, Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, Seth Rollins and a returning Randy Orton will take on Finn Balor, Damian Priest, JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio and Drew McIntyre.
Rhodes, Zayn, Uso and Rollins as well as LA Knight each can make a claim to being WWE’s top babyface with a palpable connection to the audience.
It’s been some time since the company has had so many male performers vying for that spot.
Though it’s hard for him to step back for perspective, the dynamic and the high level of fan interest in each of them remind Zayn of one of the company’s storied periods in the late 1990s.
“I guess it does harken back to the Attitude Era in some respects where you had multiple people that were just very, very popular and it just made it fun,” Zayn said. “It has been such a long time since you’ve seen an investment from the audience for so many different good guys all at once. It’s fun to be a part of.”
Though he believes some of the reason for that is each man’s connection to Reigns and The Bloodline story because it gave fans “something they really wanted to pay attention to,” he also puts a lot of stock in each man’s personal journey to this moment.
“If you look at myself, I’ve been plugging away for a long time,” said Zayn, who began his career in 2002. “The Bloodline story I think is where something really clicked for the audience. With Jey Uso the same can be said. He’s been killing it in matches with The Usos and [versus] the New Day for years and years. Seth Rollins has been performing at a very high level for years and his character just happened to kind of take its own arc. Cody has been around for years and years, left the company, came back.
“I think it took years and years on all of our parts individually. And now it’s just sort of reaching this perfect storm where we are all sort of peaking at the same time with the fans.”
In Zayn’s mind, that doesn’t just benefit them, but the rest of the card as well.
His belief is that, as in the Attitude Era, the fans are “just into whatever you’re giving them” as long as you are giving them something “they can hang your hat on” and The Bloodline was the crux of that. WWE’s television ratings continue to be strong and their live events are yielding some of the highest-grossing numbers ever in seemingly every city they go to.
“Now you got them engaged and they trust the product,” Zayn said. “They trust what you’re giving them. Then they’re here to have fun. So when you are here to have fun, you’re here with that mindset they’re giving us good things they’re kind of gonna be invested in everything top to bottom.”
His elevated status has left him and his character being able to talk about finally becoming a main-roster champion in WWE and having it feel “more attainable” than ever before.
Zayn has said that if his career ended today, he would be happy with it and never becoming a world champion would not be a “blemish on my record.”
Zayn’s character is 0-6 in televised world title matches, the latest being a recent loss to Rollins for the World Heavyweight championship.
Still, he recognized the momentum he has and the window of opportunity in front of him.
“It would be nice and it does seem more attainable than ever, and that’s almost like a double-edged sword, right?” Sayn said. “When it felt a little further away, I could’ve said it a little more easily and a little more comfortably, ‘Well, if it never happens, it doesn’t matter, it’s still a really good run. But then when you get really close to it, you’re like, ‘Well, it’s right there.’ There is a greater sense of disappointment if I came this close and never quite made it.”
That quest will be put on hold for at least one night at Survivor Series.
Zayn calls the double-caged, team-concept WarGame match with staggered entries that was invented by Rhodes’ legendary father Dusty as “sort of bulletproof” and “guaranteed to sort of work” like the Royal Rumble because it’s easy for even non-wrestling fans to grasp.
“WarGames is similar as it is a long match because of the intervals,” he said. “But when you combine the cage and multiple rings and the intervals and the characters and the stories going in, I feel like it’s a very unique match that’s guaranteed to have them invested and interested.”
Part of that is because Zayn’s team will be going against a Judgment Day faction (plus McIntyre) who have also put in the work to become WWE’s hottest heel faction.
Zayn credits Priest, Mysterio, Balor and Rhea Ripley for each getting over and growing as individual performers in the process for the prominent role the group has taken on WWE television.
“All of them have been able to bounce off each other and really show a different side of their characters,” Zayn said. “I think they all really emerged, never mind as a group, but as individual performers in a really big way. They’ve had quite the load to carry, honestly, over the last six to eight months.”
He sees Ripley’s formidable character – though not in any of the matches with the men because WWE doesn’t allow its men and women to wrestle each other – bringing a unique dynamic to the group.
“One upon a time, a girl like that would be able to kind of get [into it] physically as well, but obviously today the product is a little different,” Zayn said. “You’re less likely to see guys and girls mix it up. But so that also is what kind of makes it different as well is that you have this untouchable character, but she’s not really untouchable because she is sort of a badass in her own right and she’s still a competitor, kind of stir the pot, not get too much into the dirt when it comes to the actual physically of it all.”
A year earlier, Zayn was part of one of the best angles in WWE history and he didn’t think could get any better.
Now, though, Zayn believes it has with WWE’s product picking up even more steam across the card.
“I think that’s kind of what we’re seeing and in conjunction with that you also have the guys [at the top] who put in their 10-plus years, whatever it is, to have this relationship with the audience and it’s all sort of culminating all at the same time now,” Zayn said. “I thought things were hot this time last year heading into WarGames. Amazingly it’s even hotter now.”
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