JBL believes Sami Zayn’s short WWE World Championship reign may end up helping him.
Speaking on Something to Wrestle with John Layfield, JBL discussed Zayn losing the title to CM Punk after just nine days.
He may have, but it may have been planned all along. I think you look at some of the verbiage that was said, you know, from people that have caught it online. This is probably the plan all along.
And look, it did something great for Sammy. Sammy’s a world champion now. Now he’s ex-world champion. That’s something that’s very, you know, very few people make it to be a world champion on that level.
JBL compared Zayn’s short reign to Tommy Rich’s NWA World Title run.
Tommy Rich, hottest baby face in the freaking world back in the 80s. He was NWA World Champion for seven days.
When he was announced, he was always the ex-NWA champion.
So, you know, I wish he, I don’t know what the plan was. Maybe it was this way all along. I don’t know if he’s considered a mailman or not, but I think the plan was in place all along to do this in Chicago.
JBL also praised Punk’s physical condition after his return.
By the way, CM Punk’s in great shape, huh?
Yeah, he looked like a million bucks.
JBL said Zayn’s promo after losing the title may have given his character new life.
I saw the promo that Sami Zayn cut at the end of it. He said this [expletive] something, you know, obviously he’s not cutting on television. It was a hell of a promo.
I mean, you may have given Sammy some real life out of here that he wouldn’t have had without these nine days as champion.
You may have done something huge for him here.
JBL said the important part is that Zayn held the title.
People always say, “Oh, he just held for nine days.” Tom Rich only held for seven. He held it. That’s the big thing.
And now he’s got this bitch about it. And yes, I think it’s awesome. His promo was the best I’ve seen him do. Period. I thought it was awesome.
And if that’s the Sami Zayn we get out of this, that’s a win for me.
JBL was also asked whether he would turn Punk heel.
As far as Punk, I like seeing Punk. And I like him as a baby face. I just don’t like baby faces. I think I hate them all. I really do.
I think he’d be a great heel. And I love him as a heel.
JBL said Zayn has shown he can make the most of a major storyline opportunity.
He was so entertaining with the Bloodline. I mean, he would steal segments with those guys.
I told you several times WrestleMania would call without the crowd and he’s out there working with Daniel Bryan. He’s crying. He’s screaming. You don’t have a crowd, so you don’t have the reaction.
Man, it was so hard to do commentary and not hear what they were doing in the ring.
JBL said Zayn figured out how to stand out in difficult circumstances.
Sami Zayn has figured it out better than anybody else. He’s out there screaming because you can hear him. He’s out there crying because you can see him and you can see him whimpering.
It was freaking phenomenal what he did. He made that match. Now, Daniel Bryan’s awesome, but he made that match so entertaining by what he did.
This is about making the best of the situation. That’s what I thought he did this past week as well. And I like what we’re getting from Sami Zayn.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Something to Wrestle with John Layfield, with a h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.
