Paul Heyman discusses Sami Zayn‘s remarkable run on WWE TV in recent months.
Speaking on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina, Heyman shared his thoughts on the journey Zayn has been on in recent months. He also commented on the company potentially changing its plans due to the the way fans rallied around Zayn. Heyman teased that fans have not seen the last of Zatn.
“There’s always an inkling to change any plan,” Heyman said. “The old expression is you have a test audience every week. We’re very adaptable. We think we have a really good formula here and we think we have a really good path. I don’t think you’ve seen the last of Sami Zayn. In fact, I guarantee you haven’t seen the last of Sami Zayn nor Kevin Owens nor any of the other players in this act that we’ve put together.
“There was a very compelling reason to put Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn on Elimination Chamber. The timing was perfect, and oh my God, we just happened to be putting that show in Montreal, where the reception to Sami would be something that other audiences will aspire to top because they want to be the best audience ever.”
Heyman recalled the way the crowd responded to Zayn in Montreal, both on the February 17 episode of SmackDown and at Elimination Chamber. He expressed that he hopes fans will be “clamoring” for Zayn six months from now.
“We saw this Montreal opportunity, we also saw that the timing could not be better. We’re heading into the Royal Rumble with Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns, and all the different opportunities that interweave themselves with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. The timeline for the story just fit. I understand that people have wanted Sami, more and more and more for Sami. That’s the objective. We try to do that with every challenger. We did that with Drew McIntyre going to Cardiff, we did that with Brock Lesnar going into SummerSlam. We did that with the group in WarGames, Kevin Owens in the Rumble.
“We try to do that with everyone in the co-starring role with Roman Reigns in terms of who his opponent is going to be. Hopefully, on the flip side in being defeated by Roman Reigns, you are worth far more, have a more passionate fanbase, sell more merchandise and tickets, more famous, more accepted, more valued by the audience than you were before we got our hands on you. That’s the object of what we do. I hope six months from now people are still clamoring more for Sami. That’s what we do. We try to make stars out of everyone within our orbit.” (H/t Jeremy Lambert of Fightful for the transcription.)
Zayn will face Solo Sikoa on the March 3 episode of WWE SmackDown.
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