Sami Zayn discusses career achievements ahead of title match

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Having been a big, big fan of Sami Zayn’s work since first seeing him as a generic luchador with ROH and PWG in the aughts, when Geno asked this question in The Feed the other night… My first thought was about the Prizefighter with whom Zayn is eternally and indelibly linked in my mind. But that was followed quickly by another affirmative answer. Overall though, the responses and reactions were quite varied. I. B. Alwaysright pointed out that earlier this year many had written Zayn off as ever even having a chance of being a main event-level act again, and ringthebell82 reiterated that idea while arguing that Sami, while great, is not only currently overrated, but is also the prime example of internet wrestling fandom’s fickle nature. In between diehard Steenerico marks like SmokeLife and myself and those reminding us about the digital world’s recency bias and love of extremes, our conversation probably got closest to at an accurate evaluation of Zayn’s standing in the modern pantheon when distinctions and qualifiers were offered. And that’s where we finally get to the headline that brought you here. A sit-down interview the WWE champ did with Cathy Kelley dropped yesterday (Nov. 4). It was focused on Zayn’s Crown Jewel title match with World Heavyweight champion Roman Reigns on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Sami was again contrasting his honest confessions of self-doubt to the supreme confidence the OTC exudes. It eventually led to Zayn make a claim about what his career that I think it’s pretty hard to argue with: “No one, no one in the history of this business has done more with less than I have. No one. And it’s not even close, okay? It’s not even close.” We’ve had plenty of underdog stories and people we thought would never be a World champion becoming World champions, but I can’t think of anyone less likely to be a multi-time WWE champion, premium live event main eventer, and future Hall of Famer than the red-headed French-Canadian Muslim guy with an average build who spent the first third of his career not speaking. Did Sami nail the superlative for his career? Continue the debate below.