Sami Zayn Breaks Silence After Getting Taken out by Cody Rhodes on SmackDown

Sami Zayn doesn't think there's anything to laugh about what transpired with him on this week's SmackDown.

Sami Zayn Breaks Silence After Getting Taken out by Cody Rhodes on SmackDown

Sami Zayn is on a collision course with Cody Rhodes [via- WWE]

Sami Zayn is at a crossroads in his WWE career. Turning 42 next month, he’s yet to realize his dream of being a world champion in the company. Some believe that the time is running out for the Laval-born wrestler to win the big one. It has resulted in Zayn oozing frustration and getting into repeated arguments with Cody Rhodes, with whom he was once the most amicable.

This past Friday on SmackDown, Rhodes accidentally took out Zayn while going for the suicide dive on Gunther. The latter wisely got out of harm’s way and shoved Zayn into the crossfire, leading to Rhodes landing on Zayn. WWE posted the clip on X with the caption saying it was just an accident and tagging Zayn with an emoji depicting nervous laughter.

The 4-time Intercontinental Champion lashed out at the post, as he didn’t find anything funny in that. It’s obvious that the former ‘Honorary Uce’ has reached his saturation point, and he might snap any given day now. ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ told Rhodes to his face on SmackDown that their friendship had deteriorated due to the world champ blowing him off every now and then.

Zayn also mentioned how ‘The QB1’ pledged to teach him a lesson after his match with Gunther at Clash in Italy. The erstwhile El Generico asked Rhodes when he was planning to do so. Rhodes pointed at his unfinished business with ‘The Ring General’, which set Zayn off. ‘The Great Liberator’ bashed the former AEW EVP for always looking past him instead of talking things out.

Sami Zayn underscored how ‘The American Nightmare’ resorts to ignoring him and focusing on the next threat to his championship belt without realizing that the biggest threat might just be staring him in the eye.

And speaking of a persisting threat to Rhodes’ title reign, Gunther will challenge him on the 06/19 edition of SmackDown under a stipulation that he’ll announce next week. The fans could definitely expect Zayn to play a factor in the outcome of that Clash in Italy rematch.

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Sami Zayn reflected on the strange vibe around this year’s WrestleMania

There was a ton of negativity surrounding this year’s WrestleMania in Vegas, from astronomical ticket pricing alienating the passionate fanbase to the influx of celebrities. Sami Zayn seconded that the vibe around WrestleMania 42 felt a bit strange to him as well. ‘The Underdog from the Underground’ joined Witty Whittier for a chat after Mania and reflected on why everything seemed different to him than usual.

Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn [via- WWE]

Zayn first talked about the shift of his on-screen character close to WrestleMania, where fans had started to turn on him and he couldn’t figure out what exactly he did to get on the wrong side of the people. For the record, Zayn took the US title off Carmelo Hayes just a few weeks before WrestleMania in a highly criticized creative direction, as it prevented a fan-favorite Hayes from having a match at Mania.

The former Bloodline member then entered into a full-blown feud with Trick Williams, who had the audience firmly behind him, and anything logical Zayn tried putting out in front of the fans wouldn’t matter at all. Apart from that, Zayn talked about Pat McAfee‘s last-minute integration into a dream feud involving Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton triggering intense backlash from the fans.

It was also one of the things Sami Zayn alluded to that made the vibe around WrestleMania strange. It must be noted that the former ‘Honorary Uce’ missed out on competing at last year’s WrestleMania at the same venue. And getting to walk out in Allegiant Stadium this time around would’ve felt bittersweet to the Canuck.

All in all, there were a number of factors that he mentioned above that resulted in Zayn personally not connecting with the overall ambience around WrestleMania 42. Moreover, he lost the United States Championship to Trick Williams on the second night of the event. Zayn would later fail in his attempt to regain the title at WWE Backlash a few weeks later.

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