Sami Zayn has looked back on his very memorable WrestleMania match with Johnny Knoxville.
The current WWE Champion faced the Jackass star as part of 2022’s biggest show of the year. With multiple spots paying homage to the Jackass franchise and cameo appearances from cast members Chris Pontius and Wee Man, many saw this as the highlight of Mania weekend.
Although Knoxville had zero pro wrestling experience, many found the match to be much more entertaining than expected. According to Zayn, he had a feeling that it would be something special when all was said and done.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Zayn was asked if he had any idea that the match was going to be something special:
“Well, I kind of knew. So I’ll have these, this is gonna sound cocky for sure, but I’ll have these moments. Let’s say I’ve put something together and I’ve thought of it and I’ve reviewed it a bunch of times in my head, where I’m just like, oh my God, these people have no idea what’s about to hit them. Okay, I’m exaggerating. What I’m trying to say is, I’ll go, this is bulletproof, there’s no way this is not going to get them. But then there is self-doubt. So right up until the curtain, I would fluctuate between oh my god, even if you hate me, even if you hate wrestling, and you somehow got dragged to this show, this will get you. There’s no way around it.”
Zayn then pointed out that Knoxville was not a wrestler nor an actor, but he was a “great man.” Zayn then quipped that he still hated Knoxville following their match, elaborating on how relentless the Jackass star can be:
“It’s this gnawing thing that just doesn’t really go away. I don’t want to get into all that now, but he’s relentless. He really is. What I mean by he’s perfect is you can’t really replicate that match with [anyone else]. At that time, that match could only be Sami Zayn versus Johnny Knoxville. You couldn’t put two other people in there and have the same match. That’s kind of what I liked about it. Is like all the things that happened. It’s easy to watch it and reduce it to just oh there was a bunch of weapons and stuff, but in fact it was just a wrestling match, and those gadgets, that’s his signature offense, because his signature offense is from the Jackass world. He doesn’t have wrestling moves. He has Jackass stunts. So the moves were replaced by the Jackass stunts, but they still serve the same function.”
The Spot In The Johnny Knoxville Match That Hurt Sami Zayn The Most
The match was filled with many comedic spots such as airhorns, bowling balls and a taser. When asked if there was one spot that was particularly painful, Zayn pointed to the mousetrap table. In the match, Zayn was thrown from the top rope to the outside and landed on a table filled with mousetraps. Zayn noted that despite the match being mainly for comedy, there was some violence and painful bumps:
“The table was crazy. That mousetrap table, that was a big one that really hurt. But that’s the one kind of sore spot because it almost gets reduced to a comedy match. Part of what I love about it is it had a little bit of everything. There are comedic elements, but there’s also some actual violence and some pretty serious bumps.”
Four years on from the Knoxville match, Zayn is now a two-time WWE Champion. Zayn is set to face World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel, with the winner receiving the Crown Jewel Championship.
The last time Zayn faced Reigns was at Elimination Chamber 2023. Reigns was WWE Champion at the time, and defeated Zayn on the show before WrestleMania.
Featured image: WWE
