Sami Zayn has given his thoughts on negative comments from WWE fans about his upcoming match at WrestleMania 40.
Outlasting the competition on the March 11th episode of Raw, Zayn was victorious in a gauntlet match and became the new number one contender to Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship. While Zayn is a popular Superstar in his own right in WWE, vocal fans were annoyed that the opportunity was not gifted to Chad Gable, who took The Ring General to the limit in 2023.
Zayn admitted his frustrations to Booker T in private, who detailed their conversation on his podcast. While speaking with Josh Martinez, Zayn admitted he was surprised by the comments but was happy with his own performance:
“Well, I was a little surprised to read that. Because I basically bumped into Booker on the plane and we were just sitting next to each other. So, we’re just talking. It’s pretty weird to see that on the internet. All this to say, No, I was very happy with the performance, because he was talking about the performance itself, the match itself. I was like, ‘Yeah, I was very pleased with the match. It’s just unfortunate that it felt like the reaction to the wind itself was a little split, if not a little more skewed towards Chad’ because we did a great job of building Chad and he’s done a great job of building himself,” Sami admits. “When you’re a good guy or whatever, or bad guy, and you know where you’re headed, you just want the full investment, right? You want the full scope of the audience’s emotional investment. I felt like this was an interesting story because it splits the emotional investment in two. So, you’re only getting 50% of the pie, right? That’s just an interesting dynamic because it makes it more compelling.
Addressing fans being disappointed that Gable was not victorious in the match, Zayn responded that he understands the comments:
“For sure, as a guy whose job it is to rally the entire audience behind him. Which is what I sometimes feel like my job is as a good guy. I was a little let down that I felt like I couldn’t get the entire audience to rally behind me. At least, that’s not even entirely true,” he continued. “During the match itself, it feels like they’re very happy and invested in the whole thing. But the online backlash the day after, just with people feeling a little disappointed for Chad, which is very understandable. It just was a little deflating, you know? But again, this is just something I was kind of articulating to him as to just kind of shoot the breeze on the plane. So I think maybe once it gets out online, it seems like a bigger deal than it is. That’s all I was articulating to him.”
Sami Zayn Hopes To Repeat WrestleMania Success
WrestleMania 39 saw the former Intercontinental Champion triumph in the main event of night 1 alongside Kevin Owens. Defeating The Usos on Saturday, Sami Zayn gained retribution for his Bloodline expulsion earlier in the year.
Featured image: WWE
H/t to Fightful.
