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 continues Saturday with the Elimination Chamber, one of those high-profile shows of 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”, details 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 after 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 about it and a host 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 about it, it’s because he has the respect of everyone in the business,” said WWE Raw Wrestling host Pat Laprade at TVA Sports.
Zayn will therefore be in the final of Saturday’s show, in a title fight, against 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 a fight, Zayn was given the mandate to fight him, in front of some 80,000 spectators, 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 bring 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 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. »