Sami Zayn is preparing for another shot at a major championship as he steps into the ring this Saturday to face Cody Rhodes and Gunther at Night of Champions, held in Saudi Arabia.
The triple threat match was arranged following events on "Friday Night SmackDown." Zayn, serving as a special guest referee during a bout between Rhodes and Gunther, drew scrutiny for a quick count in favor of Rhodes. After Rhodes requested a match restart with a different official, Gunther attacked Zayn, who then retaliated. This exchange ultimately led to the high-profile championship contest, presenting Zayn with one of his most significant challenges to date.
A High-Stakes Championship Opportunity
When asked about his current mindset, Zayn expressed optimism.
"Good," he stated. "Look, anytime you are main-eventing a big PLE, the fact that Saudi Arabia is always a little special for me just being from this part of the world, obviously. And the fact that you’re main-eventing for a WWE championship. I don’t think there’s a better spot to be in, except being the champion, which is the goal here. But besides from being the champion, it’s the best spot you can kind of ask for. I really can’t complain."
Zayn, born in Canada to parents who immigrated from Syria, would make history if he secures the title. A victory would establish him as the first world champion of Syrian descent in the organization's history.
Reflecting on Cultural Significance
He articulated that winning the championship in Riyadh would be a deeply personal and culturally resonant moment.
"I think it’s kinda one of those things that would kinda be hard to process. I truly don’t know. I don’t know how the fans would react," he remarked. "I hope they would enjoy it but you never know because my character right now is a little polarizing – I truly don’t know. But I don’t know. I think there’s a lot of like cultural and historical kind of significance that would kinda maybe hit me after the fact."
Zayn further elaborated on the profound impact such a win would have.
"From a sentimental point of view, for sure, I think it would be kind of awesome. I think it would be a big cultural moment, actually. I don’t think about it. I kind of dismiss it a lot at this point because we come to Saudi a lot. A lot has been made of the fact that I’m Arab or I’m Muslim or whatever. But growing up, that was not the case. It was not like this was a common thing or something that you could ever even dream. I couldn’t have dreamt that this would happen. So, yeah, that would be a pretty big deal I think."
Potential Future Storylines
A hypothetical scenario involving Jey Uso winning the King of the Ring tournament could open up intriguing narrative possibilities, potentially setting up a challenge against Zayn, should he win the title, or against Roman Reigns for the world heavyweight championship.
Zayn acknowledged these developing storylines.
"I thought about it a little bit but I really try to focus on one thing at a time. But I do think because of the fact that The Bloodline is reunited on ‘Raw’ with a slightly different skew now because Jacob adds a slightly different dimension but it begs the kind of question, the elephant in the room, which is, ‘Where does Sami Uso lie in all that?’ Because we’re on separate shows, I don’t know if and when that situation, that question, manifests itself on our television show," he explained. "I think one way or another it’d be interesting and that would be a really interesting thing. I think it would be very, very interesting actually. But we just gotta see where the chips fall. But I do think, if a scenario like that comes to be, I think it would lead to some interesting week-to-week programming where you kinda gotta see how this unfolds."
Night of Champions is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. ET and will be available for viewing on ESPN.
