The February 17th edition of Friday Night SmackDown was always going to be an emotional one for Sami Zayn, but what transpired was something special.
Over the last 12 months, Zayn has risen from a downtrodden, comedic underdog to become the embodiment of the ‘wrestling fan on the street.’ Like Dusty Rhodes and Mick Foley before him, Zayn has come to carry the hopes of fans across the world, and on SmackDown it became very clear what that meant.
At Elimination Chamber, Sami Zayn will challenge Roman Reigns in one of the most hotly anticipated World Championship matches in recent times. But there was still one more chance to set the expectations for the match off the scale.
Sami Zayn Enters To “World’s Apart”
WWE promoted Zayn’s appearance heavily all night and when his music hit the Bell Centre exploded. Fans had been singing for Zayn during the previous match between Gunther and Madcap Moss, growing ever more impatient as they waited for their hero. To add the icing on the cake, Zayn entered to his old “World’s Apart” theme song which only caused the cheers to grow louder.
For several minutes Zayn stood in awe as the crowd serenaded him, welcoming him home. The wild atmosphere sparked a loud “f*ck you Roman!” chant which had to be quickly muted by Fox.
When an emotional Zayn began to speak he said that while others focus on WrestleMania, for him and this city, Elimination Chamber is once in a lifetime. The former NXT Champion then took aim at Reigns in French to the delight of the live crowd and promised that the Tribal Chief is going down.