WWE star and former Intercontinental champion Sami Zayn recently spoke to Sportskeeda about a number of different pro-wrestling related topics, including what the backstage reaction was after he mentioned AEW during his “Electric Chair” segment on Monday Night Raw. That and more can be found below.
Says there was an unfavorable reaction afterwards:
“So it wasn’t entirely, entirely off the cuff but it was off the cuff to a certain degree, and the reaction was, uh, let’s say unfavorable (laughs) since the electric chair met its demise that very same week.”
Says he was expecting a question about AEW since it was coming from the fans:
“So it was right on everybody’s mind. It was super, super fresh and I think they had just announced this TV deal. They had just announced that this wasn’t just going to be a pay-per-view. This is going to be a competitor and all this sort of stuff. And they tell me that we’re doing this segment where it’s legitimately, you know, unplanned questions and anybody could ask anything. So at the time this was the number one topic in the wrestling world. So you kind of expected to be asked about it.”
Thinks the Electric Chair could have turned into a really fun weekly segment:
“What they were going for was that it had a very risky, unpredictable feel to it… As I was out there, I was like, this doesn’t have these vibes, these questions are too sterile. So I felt like it was upon me, it was incumbent upon me, to sort of make it controversial. And the fact that we’re talking about it now, all this time later, you know I hate to say I was right, but I kind of think I was right to do it. I shed a little tear just thinking about what the Electric Chair could have been. You know what I mean? Cause that could have been super exciting. Really unpredictable questions from the fans and you really don’t know what’s coming. Eh. Failed experiment, but what can you do?”