Sami Zayn was never going to be sticking around in WWE’s main event scene.
Through the early part of 2023, Sami Zayn was arguably the most popular star in professional wrestling. The star split from The Bloodline at the Royal Rumble, cracking Roman Reigns with a steel chair to one of the biggest crowd reactions of the modern era.
Zayn went on to challenge Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title in his hometown of Montreal, Canada at Elimination Chamber. Although Zayn didn’t win, his popularity led to calls from fans and critics for him to be added to the WrestleMania 39 main event involving Reigns and Cody Rhodes.
Instead, Zayn teamed with Kevin Owens to defeat The Usos and claim the World Tag Team Titles in the main event of night one of the spectacular.
Since then, Zayn and Owens have moved away from The Bloodline, and Zayn has found himself being pinned more regularly.
Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reflected on Zayn’s booking while looking back at the July 10th Raw main event. Meltzer suggested that WWE never meant for Zayn to become as popular as he did and knew he wouldn’t last in the main event, booking him to make sure that’s what happened.
“But right now they are very protective of Rollins and Zayn often now loses on TV and they don’t see it as a big deal to beat him. It was a self-fulfilling prophesy as they always saw Zayn as just a guy, who got over as a fluke and they didn’t see him as having potential past a certain level, and when he got there, they “knew” it wouldn’t last, and booked it so it didn’t.”
Sami Zayn Sings To Kevin Owens
Despite not being positioned at the top of WWE, Sami Zayn headlined another edition of Raw on July 17th when he teamed with Kevin Owens to defend the World Tag Team Titles against the Judgment Day.
After the show went off the air, Zayn and Owens ended up talking to fans with Seth Rollins, and Zayn sang to his tag team partner while Rollins danced along.