It’s really easy to be pessimistic sometimes. A lot of the time it’s warranted, which kind of just reinforces the whole feeling. Wrestling is a truly amazing medium, but it can also be a source of negativity. There are however moments when that’s washed away, and Saturday’s Night of Champions was one of those days.
‘Helluva Ride’
Sami Zayn became the WWE champion at Night of Champions to win his first recognized world title in his nearly 25 year career.
That’s the dream.
I think if you really want to make a go of wrestling, winning the big championship is what you first set your heart on when you have your earliest memories of wanting to pursue that passion. That’s validated by the efforts that follow those moments and that key decision in your life. It’s the one you aspire to, fight for, train for, fight some more for, and maybe after a point, the one you write off and give up on.
Through the course of his travels he’s held the top title in PWG, held the ROH TV title, and once he finally got to NXT 12 years ago, he won the NXT title. Since then he won everything else that mattered in WWE. He’s a multi-time Intercontinental and U.S. champion, and is a former tag team champion with Kevin Owens.
Had Zayn never won a world title, you could still say he led a successful career and lived an even better life. However that’s an alternate reality that pales against the truth in front of us, and the revelation that accompanies that reminds us that hard work and passion are inevitably rewarded, that the underdog will have their day, and that when the people choose you that’s as validating as any trinket, belt, crown or whatever else you might have handy. That’s success on its merits by way of becoming beloved by staying true to your character and working tirelessly to make the work you do undeniable.
There’s another kind of success though. It’s the one where the place you work and the people you work with professionally recognize the effort, hard work and sacrifice you’ve made in your pursuits and acknowledge you. Where Zayn is concerned, fans saw that in him very early in his WWE tenure. They gravitated to him because of his hard-working attitude and “everyman” quality. We see and respect the effort and the passion. It’s the same gravitation Mick Foley had, or even Darby Allin has where they’re completely impassioned within what they do in wrestling. It’s intangible, but we see it and grab hold of it all the same. We can do so because we identify with them. Foley was just a guy from Long Island, much in the same way Allin was just a crazy skateboard kid from Seattle, and how Zayn is just a kid born to Syrian parents in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It’s the same DNA.
Success doesn’t always come when you expect it, regardless of how long and hard you work. Wrestling is an example of that, and some as we’ve seen over the years never reach the pinnacle. For someone nearing their 25th year in wrestling, that success seemed out of reach. Regardless of whether it wasn’t their time, or they weren’t marketable enough or didn’t fit an archaic mold of what a world champion wrestler archetype should satisfy, despite the hard work, grit, passion and connectivity to fans’ hearts, it was never “now” until Saturday.
Zayn competed for a world championship about 44 times across television, live event tours and premium live events. In those matches he wrestled the likes of AJ Styles, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Kofi Kingston, Drew McIntyre and even wrestled in a six pack challenge for the WWE title that also featured Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and John Cena. Forty-four times he entered a match with a world title on the line. That’s 44 times he walked down an aisle like we would a hallway to the washroom to brush our teeth in the morning as we aimed for today to be our day.
Those flowers didn’t come for him in Montreal back in 2023 at Elimination Chamber at the height of the Bloodline story, nor did it come for him at the Royal Rumble against McIntyre in Riyadh this past January. Despite those letdowns over the years, he still woke up, walked that hallway, dressed himself, said goodbye to his family and went to work because that’s what you do when you love something as much as he loves wrestling. It’s an unbated compulsion and commitment to a purpose so high for yourself that you can’t be reasoned with.
Even in spite failures or your moment never coming when you think it should, that’s the motivation. Fans were that for him back in 2023, as they were earlier this year, and as they were at Night of Champions. They’ve stood with him the whole time. And when you do it long enough and hard enough, others notice even when you don’t see it and they want you to be recognized for what you do more than success for themselves.
Those are the friends and co-workers, when you finally get your due, are more happy for you than you are for yourself. That’s the biggest marker of success. It’s an indication of the life you’ve led, how you treat people, how hard you work, and how you stood by others as they found their own highs. There are plenty of examples since he won, but two jump out to me.
First, if you go on social media there’s an image posted of Becky Lynch crying with Zayn backstage after a match, saying she was “crying tears of joy then” alongside Zayn, and she was crying tears of joy now over her old Ginger Snaps Mixed-Match Challenge teammate becoming world champion. That’s a friendship earned.
Also, if you go to Kevin Owens’ feed, he posted a tribute to his friend — along with four photos of him annoying Zayn over the years — where he also said this:
“He has brought out the best in me as both an ally and foe. That’s because he is THE best. When you’re consistently that good for that long, you become undeniable. Sami becoming WWE champion was inevitable. He has deserved that moment for a very long time and I am so happy to see him finally get it.”
He has been many things in his WWE run. An underdog. He’s been a comedian. Zayn has been a brother and friend, and if Owens’ testament is true, he’s someone who would help a friend put their socks on because their back is so sore that they can’t move. He can now also call himself a world champion, and that’s an accolade that can never be taken away from him. Night of Champions was his moment in time to become what we all saw in him. The underdog had his day.
And most importantly of all, somewhere out there, El Generico is smiling.
