Main Event Radio with Sami Zayn
Host: Ryan Rider
Interview conducted for MainEventRadio.com
Main eventing the Bell Centre in Montreal earlier this year against Kevin Owens: I split my time between Orlando, Florida and Montreal. Montreal is always home and I’ve spent most of the summer there. It was very symbolic to wrestle Kevin in the main event of the Bell Centre. Both of us starting in front of really small crowds in the suburban Montreal scene to then go all the way and main event the Bell Centre in a street fight. When the chains are off, we could really go and have some exciting matches. It was a fond memory for me, one of the most special matches for me not only in WWE but in my entire career. Kevin [Owens] was about to leave the ring, and I grabbed the microphone and said, “we’ve been beating each other up for years and to have the main event of this show be two Montreal boys who just tore the house down, for that there is certain amount of respect there”. Kevin being Kevin said “I hate you,” and left.
On being the perennial underdog: “It’s a double-edged sword. You don’t want to sell yourself short. At a certain time I viewed it as if the deck was stacked against me. When I first signed with WWE almost five years ago now, the landscape was very different. I think certainly back then I would’ve viewed myself as more of an underdog but nowadays the WWE is full of people I’ve come up with and traveled the roads with. I no longer view myself in that way to be honest. It’s still a good story though.
Who he would like to see called up from NXT: I think Bobby Roode has been doing really well so I wouldn’t be surprised to see another Canadian coming up with us pretty soon.
Will Shinsuke Nakamura and Zayn face again: “I think it’s a matter of time. When you work in WWE, eventually you cross paths with everyone. Eventually me and Shinsuke [Nakamura] will cross paths again. I don’t know if it will really capture the magic of that one night. It’s really hard to capture the magic like that. The match that we had at NXT Takeover: Dallas was really special. Time will tell.”
The #SamiForSyria campaign: Recently I’ve realized the reach that we have. I’ve launched this fundraising campaign, partnering with a humanitarian group named Syrian American Medical Society to launch a mobile clinic to help people who don’t have access to health care in Syria. I’m very grateful for the platform that WWE gives me to be able to do something positive and to make a difference in the world. Being Syrian-Canadian, to help the people over there I am very grateful for that.
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