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WWE star Sami Zayn is set to face Cody Rhodes and Gunther in a triple threat match for the undisputed WWE title at Night of Champions on Saturday.
Since the calendar flipped to 2026, Zayn has gotten a different reaction from the crowd. The boos against him earlier this year intensified. Zayn’s complaints about not being respected enough or getting the opportunities he believes he deserves have also come to a head.
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Sami Zayn and WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes speak during SmackDown at the Unipol Arena in Bologna, Italy on June 5, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
There have been complaints about Zayn working differently over the past few months. But anyone who has been in a position where they are the veteran of an organization and watched the rest of their colleagues gravitate towards the new shiny object or rockstar of the group, may be able to feel a little more for Zayn.
He told PK Press Club Digital in an interview that his character is now “a bit of a choose your own adventure.”
“Well, it’s kind of interesting because it can mean something different to different people. … There’s so much to say about it. I don’t even know where to start. It’s basically something that’s up to you. It’s kind of choose your own adventure,” he said. “I think if you’ve been a fan of mine for a long time and you wanted to see me win the grand prize and this and that and you just stuck with me and weren’t as fickle or as fair-weathered as some fans who tend to get tired a little quicker. If there’s a little more of an emotional connection there and you haven’t been alienated yet, then you might still be on my side – the ‘ride or die fans’ as I call them. But they might totally be with me and for them, not much has changed, and for these other fans, they may have gotten tired of it.
“And you know, when I was working with Trick Williams and wrestling Trick Williams, it became very obvious that there’s this new thing that’s very exciting and it’s like, ‘We saw this. We saw you. And it’s like you’re these comfortable jeans and we got it but we want it now.’ And so, to kind of take that and say, “Ah, noted,” and play with that a little bit and turn it to your advantage, that’s going to mean something different to those fans. So that’s kind of the goal of this character right now. You can have it one way or another. It’s kind of up to you to decide. And the behavior will mean different things to one group of fans versus another. »
Zayn suggested he took inspiration from how fans have reacted to John Cena and Roman Reigns over the years.
He said Cena and Reigns didn’t necessarily change who they were. They just leaned into where the fans were taking them.
Sami Zayn makes his entrance during SmackDown at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, RI on June 12, 2026. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
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“And the reason I think it’s a little bit different and I don’t want to get into the whole psychology of it all or get into a big break with the characters, but when I imagine things about it, I look at guys who really divided the crowd in the past like Cena for years, or Roman Reigns when he was like ‘The Big Dog’ and he was clearly the No. 1 good guy but a lot of fans were booing him and all that kind of stuff, those guys, the only thing “What I’ve noticed about them is their behavior hasn’t really changed, whether they like them or not,” he said. “They were just being themselves. And the idea of being like my behavior changes depending on whether you like me or not, which I think could be really interesting. And part of what excites me about it is that it really crosses over from crowd to crowd.
“So when I go to Saudi Arabia, I don’t know if I’m going to be treated the same by Boston and I don’t know if it’s going to be the same as when I go to New York. And I don’t know if it’s the same when I go to Montreal or Toronto or London or Paris. So for me it’s very exciting.”
Zayn had been one of the top babyfaces for a few years and his popularity skyrocketed when he joined The Bloodline as “Honorary Uce” and later moved on to Roman Reigns, Jey and Jimmy Uso.
He still heard cheers in the years since at Elimination Chamber 2023. PK Press Club Digital asked Zayn if it was “refreshing” to feel a little warmth from the crowd.
“Yeah, it depends. I guess it depends on your goals,” he replied. “I don’t know, maybe I’m old school in that way, even though I’m playing with a new school idea here, but I’m kind of old school in the sense that if I want to be acclaimed, I work to be acclaimed. If I want to be booed, then I work to be booed. But now I’m playing with this kind of new, edgy thing where it’s a little more like, let’s see what happens here. Let’s see what happens over there and maybe I’ll take those cheers, thank you very much and maybe I’ll let out a few boos if the situation calls for it.
Sami Zayn and Trick Williams react during the United States Championship match at WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
“So it’s a little different. For me, it really depends on the goal. If this was two or three years ago and I go in and do my best to get people to engage with me for the sake of the story, the character, whatever and they reject me outright, I don’t think that would be great. It’s better when you’re the manipulator because that’s who we are in a way. If I takes them where I want to take them, so that feels good.”
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Night of Champions will take place at 1 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN.
