Hall Of Famer Admits “I Don’t Understand” Sami Zayn’s 9-Day Reign As WWE Champion

A Hall of Famer is trying to figure out why WWE gave Sami Zayn such a short title reign. 

Sami Zayn finally became the Undisputed WWE Champion at Night of Champions after defeating Cody Rhodes and Gunther in a triple threat match. It was a clean win for Zayn as he countered Rhodes, sat on top of him, held onto his legs, and covered him successfully for the three-count.

On the July 6th episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, General Manager Adam Pearce forced Sami Zayn to defend the WWE Title against Cody Rhodes, who earned the title shot by beating Jey Uso on SmackDown. However, Rhodes was attacked by Gunther backstage and was unable to compete later in the show.

Later on Raw, Zayn was informed that he would defend the WWE Title and we found out that his opponent would be CM Punk, who had been home for nearly three months after losing the World Heavyweight Title last April.

In the Raw main event, Punk beat Zayn in an outstanding WWE Title match, winning clean with the Go To Sleep. It meant that Punk is now an 8-time WWE World Champion, while Zayn’s title reign lasted just 9 days.

After Sami Zayn won the gold, WWE Hall of Famer AJ Styles, a former 2-time WWE Champion, was among those who said Zayn deserved it. Among other things, Styles said that there was “magic to be made” with Zayn as the WWE Champion.

While speaking about CM Punk beating Sami Zayn on his Phenomenally Retro podcast, Styles admitted he didn’t understand why Zayn had such a short title reign.

“We spoke on the podcast the other week with Retro Jake. We all said it would be great if Sami holds on to the belt for a little while. That was not going to be the case.

So, you know, you’ve said many times on this podcast you’re not a big fan of flip-flopping the title. Sami was champion for nine days. I don’t understand. And it’s not for me to understand. I get it. I didn’t write the show. I don’t know what’s happening.”

AJ Styles Taking A “Let’s See What Happens” Approach Regarding Sami Zayn

As he continued, the legendary Styles made the point that he didn’t want to freak out about Zayn losing the WWE Title because he wants to see where the story goes.

“I’m hoping there is an actual reason. And from what I saw on the internet, they backstage with Sami after the match… he’s pretty pissed off. Let’s see where this story goes before we start getting mad about everything that’s going on.

By the way, CM Punk looks like a million bucks right now. But, you know, there is a story that’s happening. So before we get our panties in a wad and just be as negative as we get, let’s see what happens.”

Styles made the point that Sami Zayn could become a totally different character after this title change.

“Because this may be a transition in where Sami is a totally different character, and that might be what we need. And it might be another match to do… there’s things that can happen. So let’s see where it goes is all I’m saying. Before we start judging and being mad, even though I didn’t want a transitional champion, let’s see where it goes.”

To conclude his thoughts on the subject, AJ Styles mentioned other former WWE Champions like Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, but then brought it back to waiting to see what happens with Sami Zayn long term.

“How long was Cody champion? Yeah, it was like almost a year, wasn’t it? He did drop it to Drew, but then he won it back. So he’s been champion. And then how long’s Roman got… Champions normally hold on to their titles a very long time. The fact that Sami didn’t is odd and unexpected.

So that’s again… is that a bad thing that he lost it so quickly, but then comes back? I don’t know, man. We’re just going to have to watch the show. These guys are smarter than I am when it comes to writing. So let’s just see where it is.” (H/T Ringsidenews)

It’s likely that the WWE Champion CM Punk and Sami Zayn will be on the July 10th edition of SmackDown, so it will be interesting to see how WWE follows up on what happened on Raw.

Also Read: Sami Zayn Goes On Rant After WWE Title Loss: “That Motherf**ker”