I'll be honest, before Sami Zayn answered John Cena's US Open Challenge last year I had never actually watched a Sami Zayn match. In fact I didn't even know what he looked like! I was impressed by the match and the fact that he wrestled the entire thing injured but then he was gone for 6 months and gone from my mind.
In the meantime I became a regular viewer of NXT. I very much enjoy watching the stars of tomorrow but I always felt that's exactly what they were and I wasn't watching the finished article. Then Sami Zayn returned...
Very quickly I came to realise that Sami was the real deal. It wasn't just his in-ring style but the way he carried himself. I remember the exact moment I knew I was watching a star. I had been watching a regular episode of NXT. Zayn didn't actually wrestle but appeared in a short backstage interview but for that few minutes I couldn't stop watching. He has a natural charisma but also something that engages the viewer. A true x factor.
I had been saying for weeks on my podcast that Sami was the stand out star in NXT and they could put him on Raw the next day. Now they have and I am more than happy with the results. I love his ongoing feud with Kevin Owens and it's been a while since we have seen a story with this much history behind it and WWE not blowing their load straight away.
However when watching Raw this past week where Sami faced off against the truly Phenomenal AJ Styles I realized that Sami Zayn has it all and I saw a Randy Savage quality to him. The fans reacted like it was a PPV main event and it was half way through Raw. He may not be THE guy in the company's eyes but when it's all said and done Sami Zayn could certainly go down as an all-time legend.
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