Sami Zayn is now a former Undisputed WWE Champion. Just a few days into July, the Canadian star has unfortunately lost his world title to CM Punk. Now, a WWE Hall of Famer feels it might be one of the last times Sami is in the main event picture.
On a recent episode of Busted Open Podcast, Bully Ray shared a blunt reality check regarding Zayn’s future in WWE. Reflecting on Sami’s career, the 20-time champion argued that WWE management has never truly viewed him as a main-event player.
Thanks for the submission!
Instead, the pattern has been for Zayn to be a highly reliable co-star or transitional figure. This short world title win was the reward he got for being the best at his job.
“I think that Sami’s role in this may have come to an end. Let’s take a look at Sami Zayn’s career in the WWE. When has Sami ever been used long-term or in anything more than a co-star role? The match that he had in Montreal with Roman Reigns when that’s a one-night. Here’s your one night. It’s gone. Sami Zayn has never been a true main eventer in the WWE’s eyes,” said Bully Ray.
Even tracing back to the Undisputed WWE Championship match with Roman Reigns, when Sami was at his peak popularity, was a one-night-only show. Later, he did not return to it and came back to a tag team role again.
Bully Ray praises Sami Zayn for being the best at what he does
Bully Ray, on the same podcast, said Sami Zayn was the perfect fit to be the transitional champion. He implied that the Undisputed WWE Championship would change hands from Cody Rhodes to CM Punk without the former’s clean pinfall from the latter being necessary.
“Somebody needed to play the role of Sami Zayn. And there was no better person than Sami. Somebody needed to be that transitional champion for nine days. Somebody needed to play that part, play that role. Sami was the best guy for the job. That’s why they put him there. So, you can look at it from the positive or the negative. It’s real easy to be negative and go, ‘Well, he was only champion for nine days, blah blah blah.’ But the positive is they chose Sami to be in that role because they knew that Sami can play that role better than anybody else in the company for that story,” said Bully Ray.
For that gap, WWE saw Sami as the best guy for the job. His way of playing the co-star role was befitting, and his story of never winning the world title also benefited. Ray feels that, even though the reign was short, it did what it had to do.
If you use quotes from this article, please credit Busted Open Podcast and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
Get all the hottest wrestling news FIRST by clicking here
Edited by Angana Roy