41-Year-Old WWE Veteran Tipped To Finally Win World Title In 2026

41-year-old WWE star Sami Zayn couple possibly become world champion in WWE next year.

Zayn recently had a strong but short United States Championship reign in WWE, which began on August 29, 2025, when he defeated Solo Sikoa on SmackDown. The run ended on October 17, 2025, when he lost the title to Ilja Dragunov during an open challenge on SmackDown in San Jose, California. The loss marked the end of a solid 48-day reign.

Sami Zayn’s WWE Future Looks Bright

On the latest edition of The REBOOKED Wrestling podcast, Matt Rehwoldt (fka Aiden English) told his co-hosts Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez and Jake Bennett that he thinks the reason WWE dethroned him as the WWE United States Champion is because Triple H wants to push him in the World title picture. Rehwoldt predicted Zayn might become a world champion in 2026.

They kind of cut his US title run short, which, at first, like a lot of fans would make me go, “Huh?” But then it started to make me think, I think he’s bound for a world title run, even if it’s a shorter one, just kind of an acknowledgement one in 2026. (From 7:04 to 7:23)

I do think this person with the right story and with the right, I think, could also be that person, and I think they are bound for big things in 2026. Um, and that’s Sami Zayn. (From 6:48 to 7:03)