Sami Zayn Fires Back At Wrong Assumptions About Missing Past WWE Saudi Arabia Events
Sami Zayn spoke about “completely fabricated” reports about his lack of participation at past WWE Saudi Arabia events following his triumph at Night of Champions.
The main event of WWE Night of Champions last Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia saw Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens successfully defend the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships against Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa.
After a referee bump in the match, The Usos accidentally double-superkicked their brother Solo Sikoa. Moments later, Reigns yelled at the brothers for getting involved, which led to Jimmy Uso superkicking Reigns twice. The fans loved that while Jey Uso was shocked by it. Zayn & Owens capitalized on the situation by finishing off Solo to win the match.
Prior to the match, Sami Zayn, who is Syrian, spoke in Arabic to the crowd. What he said translated to this.
“Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Pray to the prophet. We’re in an Arab country. We have an Arab champion. We’re gonna do this in Arabic. Introducing the prizefighter. (Now in English) Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.”
On May 9th, 2023, Saudi Arabia and Syria resumed working together, which led to Zayn competing at a WWE show in Saudi Arabia for the first time since 2014 and for the first time since WWE started doing Saudi Arabian Premium Live Events in 2018.
While speaking on WWE’s After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves & Kevin Patrick, Zayn addressed rumors about why he didn’t compete at WWE’s Saudi Arabian shows in the past.
“It was a really, really, really kind of a heavy trip, to be honest. There was a lot that went into it. First of all, the fact that I haven’t been there in a few years, and that there’s been so much speculation as to why I’m not going and what’s the political reasoning, this and that.”
“I won’t get into all of it, but I’ll tell you 99.9% of what you’ve read online about this subject, completely fabricated, people assuming things and then running with those assumptions and adding on to them. It’s wild. I think it’s anytime they can’t get a concrete answer, that’s kind of what tends to happen. I think that’s like human nature, almost.”
As he continued, Sami Zayn spoke about what the experience was like for him in Saudi Arabi.
“It’s been years since I’ve been back to the Middle East. I think the last time I was there was 20, maybe 16, in Dubai, possibly, so it’s been a little while. Of course, as you saw on the Premium Live Event, all this to say, I’m Arabic, I’m Muslim, all this stuff, and that’s like my part of the world. I understand those people. Those are my people.”
“When I went there, I got to go to Mecca, which was just a surreal experience. I also saw my uncles that I hadn’t seen in 25 years. I have cousins that I haven’t seen in 25 years. I met my great uncle that I didn’t even know existed. So it was pretty heavy in a lot of ways. It had a lot of weight.”
Sami Zayn also spoke about the incredible reception he received at the Night of Champions event itself.
“Then the actual event itself and the reception from the audience, it’s kind of what I’ve been waiting for, for a while, in a way, because again, I always felt like I would have been the natural representative for those shows and I just wasn’t. So it was good to finally be put in that position and in a main event spot opposite Roman and Solo and the story that’s kind of been carrying the company for a minute now.”
“So I don’t know, it felt like it all kind of just came together perfectly. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to go back. It was perfect.”
The tag team of Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens were drafted to Raw in the recent WWE Draft, but as the Tag Team Champions for two months, they are allowed to be on Raw & Smackdown as long as they hold the titles.