Ex-WWE Star Debunks Report About Sami Zayn’s US Title Loss to Ilja Dragunov on SmackDown

Baron Corbin has disputed the truth behind a report claiming Sami Zayn made the call to drop the US title to Ilja Dragunov on SmackDown.

Ex-WWE Star Debunks Report About Sami Zayn’s US Title Loss to Ilja Dragunov on SmackDown

Ilja Dragunov and Sami Zayn [via- WWE]

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Ilja Dragunov‘s WWE return from a torn ACL on this week’s SmackDown proved to be his best night on the main roster. ‘The Mad Dragon’ not only answered Sami Zayn‘s call in the United States Title Open Challenge but also went on to dethrone the erstwhile ‘Honorary Uce’ for the gold. A new report from BodySlam claimed that Zayn voluntarily asked to lose.

Offering his two cents on the matter, ex-WWE star Baron Corbin called it BS. In another one of his statements pertaining to this debate, ‘The Lone Wolf’ relayed how Zayn had been doing great things with the US title. Corbin added that no wrestler approaches the office telling the top brass that they think they should lose in any capacity.

The former GM of Raw cited John Cena and a select few others as exceptions, though, as they do possess a semblance of creative control in their booking. Corbin’s wisdom wasn’t received well by a few individuals on social media who questioned his credibility.

The former boxer clapped back by mentioning that he worked in WWE for 13 years, and that alone does give him an edge over people outside of the business, opining on it.

Circling back to Dragunov’s slugfest with Zayn, they left no stone unturned. In fact, as of a few hours ago, their match had a rating of 9.38/10 on Cagematch, thus making it the 20th highest-rated match in WWE history.

After having secured his first championship on the main roster, ‘The Mad Dragon’ has been officially moved to SmackDown. It could do wonders for an otherwise worn-out mid-card division on the blue brand.

Sami Zayn’s short and crisp US title reign gained rave reviews

Even though Sami Zayn couldn’t hold on to the United States Championship for even a period of 50 days, having fallen short of it by just a day, he produced a memorable run. In those 49 days while he had the belt, ‘The Great Liberator’ successfully defended it against six different opponents. It started with John Cena at the Allstate Arena in Chicago.

Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn (via- WWE)

What turned out to be a clean wrestling match ended in disappointment when Brock Lesnar crashed the party. The Beast’s interference meant Zayn retained the title via DQ. Other title defenses included the scalps of Rey Fenix, Carmelo Hayes, Je’Von Evans, Aleister Black, and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Each one of those matches brought the best out of everyone involved and somewhat restored the prestigious lineage of the mid-card title. Hurricane Helms, who currently works as a WWE producer, also lauded what Zayn went through in his latest title reign. After the former ‘Honorary Uce’ met his Waterloo against Ilja Dragunov, both of them got ambushed by Solo Sikoa‘s MFTs on SmackDown.

Mark Henry lauds Ilja Dragunov vs. Sami Zayn as a match to remember

It sure does seem like Ilja Dragunov and Sami Zayn broke new ground through their epic chemistry on SmackDown. The match captured the imagination of the fans, as well as a legend in Mark Henry. He commented on what stood out to him while speaking on the Busted Open Radio podcast.

Ilja Dragunov beats Sami Zayn for US title
Ilja Dragunov beats Sami Zayn for the US title [via- WWE]

First of all, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed his satisfaction with Dragunov finally winning a major title in WWE. Henry said he didn’t expect the match to turn out the way it did. Giving his rationale behind it, the former AEW talent scout emphasized that Zayn is one of those names whom one would back on any given night, no matter the opponent.

Henry exclaimed that ‘The Czar’ did the exact thing that a wrestler should aspire to do when they’re having a title match. Speaking of Zayn, Henry compared his intensity against Dragunov to almost the equivalent of when he fought Roman Reigns at the Elimination Chamber in 2023. At last, ‘The World’s Strongest Man’ affirmed that he’s going to remember Zayn vs. Dragunov for a long period of time.

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