‘The American Dream’ was a big fan of Sami Zayn’s promo work.
SmackDown star Sami Zayn is now known as one of the best stickmen in WWE, something that Hall of Famer and former head of NXT, Dusty Rhodes took notice of very early on. While appearing on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Zayn recalled Dusty’s feedback to him while taking a promo class. Zayn noted how he’d been wrestling for about ten years at that point, but he was never known for talking (as El Generico). Sami said he has always had a performer’s personality in real life, but he felt like he was not playing it up enough when he joined WWE. He says Rhodes told him that’s the way they did things now and ever since then, it’s what he’s focused on.
“When I first started talking and doing these promo classes, he [Dusty Rhodes] loved it and I thought I was being too… I don’t wanna say subdued, but talking the way I’m talking to you now, he was like ‘no, that’s how we cut promos now, it’s so natural, you don’t wanna feel like you’re screaming, you’re cutting an 80s promo, those days are done. This is the real you, baby, that’s what we want!’ And that’s exactly it, so I think I’ve always… from the moment he said that, I locked in, like ‘oh people like that, he likes that? It just feels like a guy talking…OK!’”
Satin noted how sometimes the subdued aspect is sometimes a hard task, but Zayn said he still does it and sometimes needs to keep himself in check from time to time.
“I still do it. Especially now with the character that I’m doing, who’s kind of got this persecution complex, he thinks everyone’s against him all the time, everything is everybody else’s fault. Ya know, so there’s also this [side where] he’s also laughing and he’s fun-loving and all this stuff but to me, the way I see the character is that’s almost like a facade,” Zayn explained, “and this person, at their core, is a very petty and small person and deserves more and wants more and this is kind of a show and there’s a rage boiling underneath.
“So, even I will get in the pattern of screaming. A few weeks ago, I don’t remember what it is, I thought I did a pretty good job with a backstage interview and then I saw Vince [McMahon], like, ‘hey, you’re screaming at me.’ I’m like, man, he’s right though… I’m like yeah, yeah, yeah, I am screaming aren’t I? Because we still revert sometimes to what we know and we all grew up on 80s and 90s wrestling,” he noted. “Late 80s, early 90s wrestling, you watch some of those backstages and especially, I don’t know, like Survivor Series ‘89 or ‘91, you listen to the words, it’s absolute gibberish [yells incoherently]. It’s just big, crazy men screaming at you and when you were young, you were like ‘oh my God, this is gonna rule!’ but if you actually listen to the words, it’s just nothing! So, sometimes I think that there’s the inclination or being angry, like ‘I’m a bad guy! Ahhh, I’m the bad guy, I’m angry!’ But that’s not where I think my bread is buttered but I do venture into those waters every now and again.”
Zayn went onto note that one thing Vince also said to him during the same conversation was that he checked out when Zayn was yelling. Zayn said he understood where he was coming from, then noted Baron Corbin as an example of someone who was able to channel the right mood where he becomes an obnoxious heel instead of just yelling.
Related: Sami Zayn On Re-Signing With WWE: They’ve Shown That They Value Me, So I Stayed
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