Sami Zayn Explains Origins Behind His Finisher Name

Published: May 13, 2023 by Connel Rumsey | Last Updated: May 13, 2023 by Connel Rumsey

Connel has over five years of wrestling journalism experience writing about some of the biggest stories from across the wrestling world. Being a fan for 20 years, Connel has an expansive knowledge from a wide range of various wrestling promotions, including WWE, AEW, NJPW, TNA and Joshi.

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Sami Zayn Explains Origins Behind His Finisher Name

Sami Zayn captured the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship alongside his best friend Kevin Owens in the main event of WrestleMania 39 night one.

The climax of the match came when Sami Zayn nailed Jey Uso with the Helluva Kick, officially bringing an end to their storyline.

Sami has won many matches before and after with the Helluva Kick, but have you ever wondered where the name came from?

Speaking to Love Wrestling, Sami provided the backstory behind the name, and how it came from a mispronunciation from a WCW Magazine.

He said:

“If you want the actual history here, I don’t know if I have ever said this in an interview before but what it is, is when I was a kid I had WCW Magazine and I was reading some match results and it said Chris Jericho defeated Syxx, or maybe it was the other way around, with a hell of a kick but it was written ‘helluva’ like that and I thought it was a ‘helluvah kick’.

“So I thought it was a type of kick. So I told this story to Excalibur, who now does commentary on AEW every Wednesday. I told this story to him at dinner one time at Denny’s after a PWG show and then we started calling the Running Yakuza Kick in the corner that I would do at the time, we started calling it the Helluva Kick.”

Sami Zayn is set to defend the Undisputed Tag Team Championship against Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa at WWE Night of Champions in two weeks.

Sami travelling to Saudi Arabia will be the first time he takes part in a WWE premium live event in the Kingdom, which was an announcement that came to the surprise of fans.

The reason why Sami may be able to travel to Saudi Arabia for the show has now been revealed.

Here are results from the Friday, May 12 episode of WWE SmackDown:

AJ Styles def. Edge, Rey Mysterio in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

Bobby Lashley def. Austin Theory, Sheamus in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

Grayson Waller appeared in a backstage segment with Adam Pearce and announced the winner of the Styles vs Lashley main event would appear on his Grayson Waller Effect talk show next week

Cameron Grimes def. Baron Corbin

Roman Reigns made his first appearance since WrestleMania 39 and said that Solo Sikoa has stepped up, but the Usos are a problem and that they embarrassed him

Paul Heyman then announced Reigns and Sikoa would be challenging Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia

Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez def. Bayley & Dakota Kai to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

Former NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly made their SmackDown debut backstage, setting up a match against the Brawling Brutes for next week

Bianca Belair appeared for a ‘celebration’ in her hometown of Knoxville, but was interrupted by a returning Asuka who spat mist in Belair’s face

AJ Styles def. Bobby Lashley in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

transcription via Inside The Ropes

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