WWE Stars To Join New Sami Zayn Heel Faction

WWE

Over the past few months, fans have witnessed a change in the attitude for Sami Zayn.

Once known as the most beloved underdog babyface in WWE, Zayn now finds himself at a crossroads in his career with the fans turning against him after frustration has gotten the better of him.

After recently leaving Cody Rhodes to be attacked by GUNTHER, Zayn appears to be embracing a heel persona and might be in some need of backup on Friday Night SmackDown moving forward.

Here are seven WWE stars to potentially join a new Sami Zayn faction.

7. Johnny Gargano

In recent months, Johnny Gargano has clearly been down on his luck and found himself in a deep depression.

After suffering the loss of his tag team partner Tommaso Ciampa and Axiom’s mask, Gargano started to be seen laying face down in backstage segments and even during matches.

Recently, Zayn has been talking to Gargano during backstage segments, feeling like he is the only one who understands what he is going through.

Zayn giving Gargano a second lease on life through a heel faction would be a compelling story to tell with these two former underdog babyfaces.

6. Rey Fenix

Another friend of Sami Zayn that has been seen communicating with him backstage as of late is Rey Fenix.

While Zayn has found solace in his friendship with Johnny Gargano, Fenix has been pushing back against Sami’s complaints in recent weeks.

Calling out Zayn’s insensitivity during the Gingerbread Man funeral or calming him down when he is upset with SmackDown GM Nick Aldis, it feels like the friendship between Zayn and Fenix is on shaky grounds.

Sami convincing Fenix to turn heel with him and join a potential faction would be an intriguing twist after the past several weeks and may be what the luchador needs just as much as the former United States Champion.

5. Shinsuke Nakamura

During his WWE debut, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Sami Zayn at the NXT Takeover: Dallas event in 2016.

“The King of Strong Style” has been someone who has been a consistent rival of Zayn over the years since then.

These two men have also shown a great deal of respect for one another, including Nakamura and Zayn working together in tag team and multi-man tag action in the past.

Considering he has his own numbers game issues in his feud with The MFTs, we could see Sami Zayn offer help to Shinsuke Nakamura, leading to the duo officially becoming allies.

4. Matt Cardona

At the start of 2026, Matt Cardona made his return to WWE after nearly a six year absence.

While he was being used consistently following his comeback, Cardona has found himself on the outside looking in as of late.

The former Zack Ryder could introduce a more frustrated version of his character, after finding himself in a similar position to where he was prior to his WWE release back in 2020.

Cardona aligning with Sami Zayn out of similar frustration would be fitting and make a lot of sense to bring two disgruntled stars in a unit together.

3. Ilja Dragunov

Back in October 2025, Ilja Dragunov made his return from injury to defeat Sami Zayn to win the United States Championship.

Following in Zayn’s footsteps, Dragunov decided to continue his United States Championship Open Challenge.

While both men did their best to add their own level of prestige and competition to the US Title, Trick Williams is now the champion and has decided to discontinue the US Open Challenge.

After spitting in the face of what they tried to accomplish with the same title, Dragunov could turn heel and join forces with Sami Zayn to take the US Championship off of Trick once and for all.

2. Randy Orton

Sami Zayn’s new attitude was teased for months mostly in his backstage segments with his friend Cody Rhodes.

Showcasing signs of jealousy towards “The American Nightmare,” Zayn expressed his desire to get the opportunities that Rhodes would get and frustrations with his inability to finish his story.

Another WWE star who turned their back on Cody Rhodes in recent months was Randy Orton. On the road to WrestleMania 42, Orton had to go to his dark side to try to win the Undisputed WWE Championship from his former friend.

Considering Orton has been off WWE TV since Mania, he could make his way back to join forces with Zayn against Rhodes, wanting to finally dethrone him for the Undisputed WWE Championship.

1. Kevin Owens

No one is closer to Sami Zayn on the entire WWE roster quite like Kevin Owens.

For the past year, Owens has been sidelined with a serious neck injury that saw him removed from the WrestleMania 41 card.

While they were at odds at the start of 2025, fans have seen Owens and Zayn consistently find themselves reuniting no matter how many times they have battled.

If he is able to recover and make his return, Owens could reunite with Zayn once again and become a heel force together in this new potential faction that could help them get their hands on gold.

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• wwe
• Sami Zayn
• faction

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