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Performing as a good guy for so long, Sami Zayn has already blurred the line that divides his character to
his real life persona.
“My persona is not too far from who I am day-to-day,” he told INQUIRER in an exclusive interview. “I don’t have this extreme gimmicky-type character. The persona I have on TV is very similar to me in everyday life, so I don’t find it too challenging.”
But Zayn’s smiling self goes away when he’s standing in the ring with Kevin Owens, a close friend and a foe who he has battled all over the world for over a decade.
From their days in the independent scene to their feuds in NXT and the main roster, both fighters have had no second thoughts in tearing each other limb-to-limb as they try to one-up every chance they get.
And at WWE Live Manila, they face each other anew as they write another chapter in their timeless book of wars.
“At this point, this match of Kevin Owens and I is known pretty much of all the fans all over the world,” said Zayn. “We’re just going to bring that rivalry that’s been going on for the last 13 years. We’re going to ride a new chapter in a new country and we’ve never done any battles in the Philippines. This is going to be a new chapter in a very long story, and I think the fans will see when Kevin and I get the the ring, we guarantee that we’ll have a great match.”
Zayn’s motivation to perform at his best in front of the adoring crowd inside Mall of Asia Arena stems from the urge to prove that he and the rest of the cast going to our shores are indeed the best performers in the world.
“I’m just excited, personally, because I’ve never been to the Philippines and a lot of guys have never been to the Philippines,” he said. “Every time we go to a new country, we’re twice as motivated, we’re twice as hard, and the fans are usually twice as good.”
INQUIRER is the official media partner of WWE Live Manila.
Despite the frequency of matches they had with one another, the Underdog from the Underground sees every fight with Owens as a new challenge to conquer.
“It wasn’t that difficult because it has been going on forever seemingly. It’s nothing new, but making it feel new also isn’t as hard as you think because it is new in its own kind of way,” he said.
“We used to tear each other apart on the independents when we’re younger and we’re in different places in our lives, so the story was different. Now, so much has happened since then that even though it’s the same rivalry, it has a different feel to it because we’re at different places in our lives and our characters have evolved into different places. Even though we’re fighting for 12 years, it still feels fresh to myself and to him, and I think to the fans also. Surprisingly, it’s not that challenging with Kevin. It’s very comfortable, it’s very natural, it’s been going on for so long that I don’t know any other way.”
Picked ahead of Owens in the WWE Brand Extension Draft, Zayn admits feeling happy but downplayed the feat.
“It wasn’t the biggest deal in the world, but it’s a nice feather in the cap cause it stung him.”
“At that point in the rivalry, you take any petty victory you could get, and anything that can sting him, you kind of get happy about. Looking back at it, it doesn’t seem to matter. We’re both on Monday Night Raw, it all comes out in the wash. But in the end, it was nice to get picked a little bit ahead of him.”
Overall, Zayn is just grateful for the opportunity that guys like him who made a name in the independent circuit are getting the exposure to show their wares in the WWE.
“Something kind of happened over the years. I’m extremely comfortable with the WWE, but if you asked me five or six years ago about joining the WWE, I don’t think it’s a place where I can feel comfortable,” he said. “A lot has changed in the last five or six years and there’s a lot of my peers and contemporaries who have come up with me at the same time, so there’s kind of a generational shift cause half of that locker room is guys who I used to share independent locker rooms with 10 years ago. It’s like we all moved up at the same time and all filled up that locker room, so that locker room is a lot more different than it was seven years ago. It would have been more intimidating back then.”
He also believes that the old stereotype of indie guys struggling to get a shot at the company’s biggest prize no longer exists.
“If you look at the world title contenders, they have been guys who were in the independents. The current World Champion is Dean Ambrose and he had an extensive background in the independents. Seth Rollins and Finn Balor fought for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam, and both guys had 10 years in the independents each,” he said.
“The thing about the independents shaking off the stigma, those days are over. I think in the past couple of years, we’ve done a great job in killing off that stigma of independent guys having to shake something off to get ahead. Those are the guys who are making the most noise now. Those are the guys that are involved on the top scene, the guys who I think are doing the best nowadays. Those are the guys that have taken over.”