Sami Zayn’s 9 Day Title Run was a slap in the Face… Or was it? | Opinion
I won’t lie to you, the weekend of Night of Champions was insane. There was a million and half wrestling shows to cover as well as what seemed like an abnormal amount of family and chore commitments. So I wasn’t watching NoC live, I planned to catch up on it the next day.
Then I got a text from my good friend, the eternal wrestling optimist, the Right Honorable Ian Carey, that said “He might win the title here.”
Now, that stopped me because I knew that it could only be in reference to Sami Zayn in the triple threat against Cody Rhodes and Gunther. I have been watching Zayn for years now and have become a huge fan of his, through the time before El Generico retired to run that orphanage, through the NXT glory days and up into WWE where Zayn has consistently been one of the most entertaining players.
So I stopped what I was doing, flipped on the show about five minutes before Zayn won the WWE Undisputed Title and I was in heaven. Finally, there was a champion in WWE I could get behind. Finally, there was a genuine surprise in the title picture and it wasn’t just the same four guys passing a belt around. Finally, Sami Zayn’s time at the top had come.
#LOLOFCOURSENOT
Then, as we know, CM Punk returned on what was probably one of the better episodes of RAW this year to face Zayn for the title and win it, in what was, to be honest, a very good match.
At first I was enraged. How could they finally pull the trigger on someone so loved and then quash it after NINE days? Jinder Mahal got 170. Kofi Kingston got 180. But Sami Zayn has the title for less than two weeks? This smacked of old-style VKM booking where he was mad that someone got over on their own and so he wanted to give them (the fans) something just to take it away.
In the era of TKO, it’s not surprising that they only want big names on top that have the cache of a Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes or CM Punk. I’m telling you, TKO, if you’re reading (which I’m sure you are) Sami Zayn has that level of talent in him and to take it away so quickly feels like a slap in the face to him and his fans and robs us of the most interesting title change WWE has had in a very long time.
But Maybe It’s Not So Bad
After Night of Champions, the previously mentioned, soon-to-be Prime Minister of Canada, Rt. Hon. Ian Carey and I exchanged another set of texts in which he reminded me that all might not be lost. He laid out a very thoughtful and carefully constructed timeline about what may come next for Zayn and could take him all the way through Wrestlemania 43 in Saudi Arabia next year.
It was a good story. One that I won’t get into too much detail on because franky, if it comes to pass, it will be better for Zayn as a character and as a talent than a few months of a title reign here would. I would position Sami in a spot that the thrives in, that of the man whos chasing the dream.
Wrestling is funny and it’s odd how over the years I’ve been conditioned to immediately think that planning nine months into the future isn’t something that WWE is capable of. It’d be almost giving them too much credit. But, they have done it before. They could do it against and if TKO doesn’t do too much meddling they just might try.
In the meantime, those nine days Sami was champ were pretty great, particularly as a fan who’s watched him evolve over the years and make a really great name for himself in and out of the ring. So, instead of disappointment, I remain hopeful that a longer reign is in his future, with the very happy memory of Sami holding that title high, taking it for coffee, pushing it on a swing and driving it around town with the top down.
Perhaps Ian isn’t the only optimist in the wrestling game.
Jeff Moss is a writer, creator and developer in animation, comics and pretty much anything else he can get his mitts on. Pro Wrestling has always been his passion for reasons even he doesn't understand.