Future Of Sami Zayn’s WWE Title Reign – Reports

Sami Zayn shocked the wrestling world at Night of Champions by winning the Undisputed WWE Championship.

It marked his first major title win since debuting on the main roster in 2015. Zayn had previously been a part of NXT, where he became a one-time NXT Champion.

Over the last several weeks, Zayn appeared frustrated with losing opportunities to other wrestlers, thus establishing himself as “the last real good guy.”

His character began airing grievances in public, especially while targeting Cody Rhodes, whom he labeled “WWE’s golden boy” on more than one occasion.

Gunther, too, entered the title picture, with one instance on SmackDown featuring a title match between him and Rhodes and Zayn as the special guest referee.

However, during the match, Sami Zayn and Gunther got into an issue, leading to Zayn costing The Ring General a victory. This led to a triple threat match getting finalized between the trio at Night of Champions.

Sami Zayn Does The Unthinkable At WWE Night Of Champions

Sami Zayn’s last major championship fight was at the 2026 Royal Rumble, where he lost to then-champion Drew McIntyre.

At Night of Champions, very few fans expected him to walk away with the championship, but that is exactly what happened.

During a sequence of maneuvers between all three wrestlers, Cody Rhodes managed to hit a Cross Rhodes on Zayn while Zayn had applied a chokehold on Gunther.

This led to Zayn eating the Cross Rhodes while Gunther took the bump and rolled out of the ring.

Rhodes then went for another finisher, only for Zayn to release himself from his clutches and roll him for a successful pinfall. Zayn celebrated with the Riyadh audience afterward, as Rhodes and Gunther shockingly saw the events unfold.

WWE Not Planning A Lengthy Sami Zayn Title Run

Sami Zayn’s first major title win in WWE evoked a lot of emotions, with former women’s champion Becky Lynch and Zayn’s best friend, Kevin Owens, sharing emotional posts on their social media accounts.

While Zayn’s victory gives the Stamford promotion the chance to bring a fresh take to the title picture, Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer believes that the 41-year-old might not be the champion for that long.

Speaking on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer likened Zayn’s title run to that of AEW’s Darby Allin, making it clear that Zayn was not “the guy.”

The main event was a good match, real good. And, you know, the championship change was a surprise. I mean, it just depends on, you know, I mean, I don’t think that he’s the guy in their plans. It is very similar to Darby Allin in the sense that it’s something that at some point they were going to do. The Darby Allin thing turned out to be a pretty big success the way it was done, and this could be too. You know, I mean, it depends on what the story is.

I don’t see a long reign, but I would hope it’s longer than SummerSlam. You know, I mean, long enough to where it’s not like one of those things where it’s like, well, we finally gave it to him, but we didn’t mean it, you know. [H/T: Ringside News]

While Sami Zayn’s title win is a cause for celebration for many fans, Meltzer believes that festivities might not last long.