The Bell Center vibrated this weekend, and for once, the person behind the madness was not a hockey player, nor Jon Bon Jovi.
It was more like Sami Zayn. Friday, at Smackdown! (a weekly WWE show, presented in Montreal this week), the Laval wrestler received a standing ovation for more than five minutes.
The host of WWE Raw Wrestling at TVA Sports, Pat Laprade, believes that this is the longest ovation in the history of the Bell Center, ahead of that reserved for Saku Koivu in 2002.
On Saturday, Zayn was wrestling in the show’s finale Elimination Chamber against the champion, Roman Reigns. A unanimously hailed fight, delivered in front of 17,271 spectators who roared from start to finish.
In fact, the two wrestlers spent the first minutes of the fight each in their corner, buried by the “Sami, Sami”, the “F*** you Roman” and even a “Va ch*** Roman”, in French . The spectators dictated the pace. The slightest punch generated a reaction in the stands. The fight is certainly a series of predetermined scenarios, but the best wrestlers are those who manage to make the spectators forget that it is a spectacle.
“When the crowd is the star of an event, it’s a sign that you have something special. Even backstage, it was deafening,” commented Paul “Triple H” Levesque, former wrestler turned WWE Creative Team Director.
Later in his press briefing, Levesque delivered a moving tribute to Zayn.
He reminds me of Mick Foley, in the way he clicks with a crowd. There he makes you laugh. A minute later, you have sympathy for him. It’s hard to put into words, but he’s an incredible performer.
Paul Levesque
This Levesque is influential. “He’s the big decider of all WWE storylines,” Laprade said. When such an influential person compares Zayn to Mick Foley, it’s quite a compliment and bodes well for Zayn’s future with the company. »
Foley, who became best known with his characters Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love, was one of the biggest stars of the late 1990s. Like Zayn, he didn’t have the typical look of a champion, with his shaggy beard, mutilated ear and well-hidden musculature.
Without looking like Foley, Zayn stands out with his physique comparable to that of Phillip Danault. The contrast was stark next to Reigns, a former Edmonton Eskimos defensive lineman, covered in tattoos, built like a Greek god.
“Kevin Owens has often been compared to Mick Foley, but this is the first time Zayn has been compared to Foley. Even if they don’t have the same physique, the comparison is very good, believes Laprade. Zayn doesn’t have the physique WWE has accustomed us to, especially for wrestlers making finals. What unites the three is the atypical look, but also a passion for the fight. »
No fairy tale
WWE now holds press briefings after its biggest shows, like the one on Saturday.
The exercise is special. The wrestlers arrive there under their entrance music, and some “journalists” applaud. Some wrestlers remain entirely in their role. Austin Theory, for example, taunted everyone he spoke to. “You got what, 10 questions in one? Do you feel so special? “, he launched to the first who ventured to the microphone.
Surreal exchange to the next. Theory concluded his answer by urging his interlocutor to “ask a better question next time”.
– I’m sorry, answered the one who asked the said question.
– The farm.
Zayn, however, tried to say as much as possible without openly acknowledging that the outcome of the fights is scripted. On the border between Sami Zayn, the wrestler, who had just lost a championship fight, and Rami Sabei, the person, who had just experienced a moment of anthology in front of his family, in front of his wife in the front row, Pierre Houde too, the family of his old friend Kevin Owens right behind.
Again, knowing that the goal of any wrestler is to become a champion, because of the recognition that comes with a title, the line between the real and the “arranged” is blurred.
“I would have liked it to end in a fairy tale, for me, for the fans of Montreal, said Zayn. I know what it is, you know what it is, but some of this is true. I looked at the spectators after the fight, they all looked disappointed.
“It’s as if Georges St-Pierre came back to Montreal and lost. It ends badly, even if the fight is excellent. And our fight was excellent. Rationally, I’m very aware of that. But right now, I feel that disappointment. Maybe tomorrow I’ll say, “God, what was I thinking, that was great.” People were up for five minutes, and we weren’t even touching! »