Sami Zayn has addressed the online reaction to his recent gauntlet match victory.
On the March 11 edition of Monday Night Raw, Sami Zayn ran the gauntlet to earn the right to challenge GUNTHER for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania. Fans of the Canadian were understandably pleased to see this outcome, however, many viewers did not share this opinion as a subsection took to social media to share their disappointment that Gable wasn’t the one to go on to face The Ring General on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
The reaction online was surprising for many, especially given how much support Zayn usually receives, with Booker T recently saying that Sami was ‘upset’ with the aftermath of the match. Speaking on the Superstar Crossover podcast, the former Intercontinental Champion said that he was surprised at Booker’s comments before maintaining that the match itself was good from his perspective despite the split reaction.
“I was a little surprised to read that (laughs) cause I basically bumped into Booker on the plane. We were just sitting next to each other. We were just talking so it was pretty weird to see it on the internet (laughs). All this to say, I was very happy with the performance because he was talking about the performance itself, the match itself. And I was like, ‘I was very pleased with the match, it’s just unfortunate that it felt like the reaction to the win itself was a little split, if not a little more skewed toward Chad even’ because we did such a great job of building Chad and he’s done a great job of building himself.”
-Sami Zayn.
Zayn discussed how the story they were telling gave the WWE Universe two legitimate options to get invested in and support. Though he does admit that he was disappointed that he couldn’t get more fans behind him in that instance, calling the backlash to his win ‘a little deflating’.
“I felt like this was an interesting story because it splits the emotional investment in two. So you’re only getting 50 percent of the pie, right? So that’s just an interesting dynamic. It is interesting because it makes it more compelling but as a guy whose job is to rally the entire audience behind him, which is what I sometimes feel like my job is as a good guy, I was a little let down that I felt like I couldn’t get the entire audience to rally behind me….that’s not even entirely true. During the match itself, it (felt) like they were very happy and invested in the whole thing but the online backlash or the day after, just with people feeling a little disappointed for for Chad, which is very understandable, just was a little deflating. But again this is just something I was kind of articulating to (Booker T) as two veterans kind of shooting the breeze on the plane so I think maybe once it gets out online it seems like a bigger deal than it is.”
-Sami Zayn
It remains Zayn who will challenge GUNTHER at WrestleMania, despite the ongoing support for Chad Gable and some fans pulling for a triple threat. On the road to ‘Mania, Gable has remained connected to the story by telling Sami that he isn’t ready to defeat the Austrian champion and offering him a different approach.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further information on Sami Zayn’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania as soon as we hear more.
