If you watched the Canadiens game on RDS last Tuesday, you heard him alongside Pierre Houde. If you attended the game at the Bell Centre, you saw him shoot pucks at targets during intermission.
If you’re on Twitter, you probably laughed at his viral photo with Youppi!.
And if you’re a wrestling fan, you saw him last month, with his compatriot Kevin Owens, in the middle of the arena when the curtain fell on the Royal Rumble, one of WWE’s signature events.
It is a Quebecer who is the athlete of the hour in the crazy world of professional wrestling. That wrestler is Sami Zayn, the Laval resident who is the center of attention at one of the biggest wrestling weekends in town in recent history.
WWE presents two shows in two nights, both at the Bell Center. It starts with Smackdown!his weekly Friday show, and it continues on Saturday with theElimination Chamber, one of those shows of great importance during the year. The tennis equivalent of the Masters 1000 tournaments.
We meet Zayn Friday morning at a downtown hotel at a WWE media event. Even if he does not arrive with a belt on his shoulder, it is him that the cameras follow when he resounds in the reception room.
“I was in town last week, then I had to go to South Carolina and Brooklyn for events. I came back on Tuesday, ”explains Zayn, Rami Sebei of his real name.
He’s been on a promotional tour ever since. A great hockey fan, he is still in ecstasy following his magical evening at the Canadiens game. “I will never forget the experience of going on the ice and commenting with Pierre Houde. I’ve been listening to it on RDS for 20 years, it was an honor! »
The wrestler of the hour
In the eyes of the general Quebec public, Kevin Owens remains the face of the struggle of the current generation. It was he who was world champion, it was he who was invited to Everybody talks regarding it and a slew of variety shows.
PHOTO ERICK LABBÉ, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
Sami Zayn at a WWE gala at the Videotron Center last August
But it’s impossible to ignore Zayn’s rise over the past few years. The crowd reactions don’t lie. The Undertaker, who has been a face of WWE for the past 30 years, has been highlighting Zayn’s work on various platforms lately.
“His character has become a staple. When guys like the Undertaker talk regarding it, it’s because he’s got the respect of everyone in the business,” says show host Pat Laprade. Lutte WWE Raw at TVA Sports.
Zayn will therefore be in the final of Saturday’s show, in a title fight, once morest Roman Reigns, holder of the Universal title for 900 days. A final that is part of his spectacular ascent. Last year, when actor Johnny Knoxville ventured into WWE for one fight, Zayn was assigned to wrestle him in front of some 80,000 fans at WrestleMania 38.
Since that time, Zayn has been incorporated into a bizarre storyline with the Bloodline, a group of true Roman Reigns family wrestlers, of which Zayn has become an “honorary” member. This story ended with a chair kick in the back, the number one cause of conflict in wrestling.
Since the pandemic started, it’s been the best period of my career. Because I’ve done things that I’m really proud of. I had the Intercontinental championship. When I lost the belt, my character became conspiratorial, and that was fun. People know I’m a good wrestler, but they’ve seen my personality, they’ve seen that I can tell a story. This is where I became a bigger star.
Sami Zayn
His transformation is all the more impressive since, let’s remember, he reached WWE fighting under a mask, in the role of El Generico, a character who never spoke on the microphone since he only spoke Spanish.
“Before, it was: ‘He’s good, but.’ Now, there are no more “buts”, analyzes Pat Laprade. He has demonstrated that he is able to fight, to play comedy, to lead a story from point A to point B just with a microphone. His acting skills are known to the public, and that’s wrestling. It’s a mix of athleticism, developing a character, talking on the microphone in an interview. »
To buckle the buckle
Events of the magnitude of Saturday’s are rarely presented in Montreal. It will only be the fourth in WWE history.
The first of these events was the 1997 Survivor Series, which left its mark. A 13-year-old Sami Zayn was there, in a young Molson Center (now Bell), who was then one year old.
“It closes the loop. The first WWE event I saw was at the Bell Center, it was Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels. I remember the buzz in town, at school. People were so excited. The fact that I have a title fight at the Bell Center is special. But it’s not just the fight. It’s the buzz, the atmosphere of a big fight, that makes this week special. »
CAPSULES
25 years ago, history was written
WWE’s first major event in Montreal is still talked regarding, 25 years later. It was the 1997 Survivor Series, the final of which opposed two wrestlers who were then building their legend, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. “Bret was Canadian, so he had a certain favor with the public, much less than he thought he had because he’s still an Anglophone from Calgary, so it doesn’t have the same connotation for us,” says Pat Laprade. It is especially the end of this fight which remains unreal. The script called for Hart, the champion, to retain his belt, but in an unscripted outcome, the referee took advantage of a moment when Hart was in a vulnerable position to declare the fight over and give the title to Michaels. Once the broadcast was over, Hart, seeing that he had been robbed of the title, broke the monitors at ringside, before punching WWE owner Vince McMahon in the face. face, behind the scenes. This event is known as the “Montreal screwjob”, the Montreal scam, if you will. Hart was already planning to leave WWE, but in doing so, McMahon wanted to expedite his wrestler’s departure.
Zayn and Saudi Arabia
Last month, word spread that WWE was being sold off to Saudi Arabian interests. Since then, the future of Sami Zayn has been the subject of all kinds of theories. It’s that Zayn is of Syrian origin and he has not participated in the events that WWE has held in Saudi Arabia in recent years, which many perceive as a boycott on his part. Zayn had, however, participated in a tour in this country in 2014. Rumors of sale have become less insistent since. At the very end of the interview, Zayn tried to calm things down as to whether such a transaction, if confirmed, would mean his departure from WWE. “The internet is funny. It starts from a presumption, and the stories grow. A lot of people panicked, and I appreciate that they’re worried regarding me. But no matter what happens, everything will be fine. »
