Sami Zayn on Critics of His Undisputed WWE Title Win and Him Not Fitting The Mold of Typical WWE Champion, John Cena’s Text To Him After His Title Win, & Feeling Privileged To Be Pro Wrestler

A recent episode of ESPN New York’s Don, Hahn, & Rosenberg show featured Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Zayn’s thoughts about the criticisms from some people about his Undisputed WWE Championship victory at WWE Night of Champions 2026 and him not fitting into the typical mold for a WWE Champion.

“Look if you just don’t like me, that’s fine. You’re certainly allowed to not like me, but I think it’s like if you start getting married to an archetype of what you have been taught to like this is what you should want and then that’s all you buy. I mean, without insulting anybody here, I just think that’s kind of a lack of free thought. Like a lot of, a lack of intelligence.

Well, I mean, what I’m saying is this isn’t the product I’ve always purchased. I mean, and that’s fair, but you’re allowed to want other products or enjoy other products. It shouldn’t be one thing has been sold to you and you should come to accept that that is the only thing, the only way anything needs to be done. You know to me that I  equate that with almost like staying in your hometown your whole life and you know never going to New York City and then never realizing that there’s a whole planet out there and there’s billions of people out there and there’s billions of ways to do things and there’s billions of different cuisines and cultures and dances and whatever. There’s a whole universe out there and you got to like and maybe I say this because traveling the world has been so important to me and it’s shaped my world view, but it’s like, man, open, broaden your horizons a little bit. You know what I mean? And if I’m just not your cup of tea, fair play.

But the idea that a champion needs to be this or needs to be that, I’m like ‘oh well, you’re an idiot.’ Nothing needs to be anything, right? If it’s good, it’s good. I’ve always kind of subscribed to that. I think the work I’ve been putting out over the last few years is good.”

Zayn also gave his thoughts about John Cena sending a congratulatory text to him after his Undisputed WWE Championship victory and him feeling overwhelmed over the outpouring support Cena and others showed him.

“I think one of the things that overwhelmed me the most about this is the outpouring of support and love and people saying, the words that came up the most were ‘overdue’ and ‘deserved’, like ‘well-deserved’ and ‘long overdue.’ And to get that from so many people that I respect and that I love and it’s really really been touching to no end. I guess one message that I got that I guess I didn’t expect, although I didn’t expect it and it was extremely nice was from John Cena.

He sent me a message and he just kind of reminded me of the difficulty of attaining this, and that less than 1% of people who ever aspire to do what we do ever gets to this point. And that’s not lost on me, but to hear it coming from him, just saying ‘congratulations.’ And one of one of the things he said that also really touched me is just that this is a genuinely earned, I don’t want to throw out personal stuff that he said to me, but the thing that stuck to me is just that he said ‘you really, you did it your way.’

And man, I just thought that was so cool coming from him. Cause he didn’t have to text me at all and he did. And it was really one of the more touching texts I got to be honest with you.

He’s a very thoughtful person. And I think he was just trying to remind me in case I wasn’t already – to be very mindful of the unlikeliness and how difficult it is to reach the mountain top and that you did it and you should be proud of that. And that was I guess in summary. But man, it was cool. It was a really cool message to get.”  

Zayn also gave his thoughts about how he doesn’t look at his job in WWE and pro wrestling like a sacrifice and instead he feels privileged to be doing it for a living.

“You know, I’ve never really looked at it that way. I know that’s like a prevailing narrative, a lot of people talk about that when they talk about our industry, talking about the sacrifices. Like, you know, if you ask my wife, for sure, she would consider them sacrifices. Leaving the family, leaving the kid, missing birthdays, anniversaries, everything like that. It’s been talked about, I’d say ad nauseam at this point. But the truth is, I’ve just never looked at it that way. It’s just a way of framing it. I’ve never seen it as a sacrifice, I really never have. I view it more of a privilege than anything, honest to god.

I say this without exaggeration, because right now there’s only one person holding this [title] and it’s me. I say this without any hyperbole or any exaggeration. There are millions of people in the world who want to be holding this right now, but there’s only one and it’s me. The odds of that are insane. So, to look at this as anything other than a remarkable experience and a remarkable privilege, I think you’re not seeing this for what it is.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com 1 & 2, Fightful.com