Sami Zayn Shares Honest Thoughts On WWE Shows In Saudi Arabia

WWE

Sami Zayn has now shared his honest thoughts on previous WWE Saudi Arabia shows, following his appearance at Night of Champions 2023.

At the May 27 event, Zayn teamed with Kevin Owens to defeat Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.

This marked Zayn’s first appearance at a WWE show in Saudi Arabia, with Zayn previously not appearing due to the at-the-time tense relationship between Syria and Saudi Arabia, given that Zayn is of Syrian descent.

Speaking with Alex McCarthy of Inside The Ropes, Zayn argued that up until recently, WWE premium live events in Saudi Arabia didn’t feel like WWE shows.

Sharing his candid thoughts on the entire situation, Zayn said:

“That was a pretty big deal for me, for a number of reasons. That whole trip was really remarkable.

“I guess, on some level, even as a child, being an Arab or Muslim growing up, never really seeing a positive representation of that in media.

“I always just assumed if I ever got to WWE that I would have to play a terrorist — I don’t know if you can use that, but you know what I’m saying — that was the perception and portrayal of Arabs and Muslims on television, never mind WWE, just in media.

“It was always sort of a thing in the back of my head, ‘Man, I’d love to change that one day.’ To be able to really embrace that. The fact that even a major premium live event like that was coming and it wasn’t just like… those early Saudi Arabia shows felt very not WWE-ish.

“‘Here is a WWE show taking place somewhere else,’ and we happened to be able to watch it. Now, that was a seamless part of the show.

“It was a progression in the story with the Bloodline and everything else, and it just happened to be in Saudi Arabia.

“For that to converge with this wonderful story that I’ve been lucky enough to be part of for the last year, for that to converge with this moment of me being able to come before my people and be there and have that sort of return, under those circumstances, was very special.”

A huge chapter of the Bloodline story unfolded on the July 7 edition of SmackDown, following Jey Uso pinning Roman Reigns in the Bloodline Civil War match at Money in the Bank.

To read about everything that happened on Friday’s show featuring The Usos, Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa, click here.

Transcription via Fightful. 

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• wwe
• Sami Zayn
• saudi arabia
• Bloodline

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