“You know that’s fake, right?”
If I had a nickel for every time I was asked that about my wrestling fandom in the 30 years I’ve been hooked on this beautiful art form, I’d be able to retire at this point. Describing what it’s like being a wrestling fan to a non-fan is not an easy task. There is simply nothing that really compares to this scripted form of entertainment that outsiders frequently view and classify as an athletic competition.
It’s like sports, but it’s not.
It’s like other scripted TV shows,
but it’s not.
Whatever promotion or wrestling company you’re partial to, the thing fans can all agree on is that the surge of adrenaline we feel after a big moment hits differently than anything else.
The latest example of that for WWE fans was Sami Zayn’s unexpected win at Night of Champions.
For years, the story surrounding Sami has been whether he would ever reach the mountaintop and win the big one. To many Zayn supporters, it felt like it would never happen. After coming up short in every previous opportunity, perhaps most notably against Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber 2023 in Montreal, many believed that Sami was just never going to get over the hump. Some in our Cageside “offices” labeled Sami Zayn as Charlie Brown and the WWE Championship as the football. But, unlike Charlie in the original Peanuts comic strip, Zayn finally connected with his football less than two weeks ago at Night of Champions.
Heading into his title defense against Zayn and GUNTHER, many assumed that Cody Rhodes was bound to hold onto the WWE Championship until the rumored Summerslam clash with CM Punk, which made Sami’s rollup victory that much more shocking. But before Sami even had his sideplates screwed into the WWE Championship belt, rumors and reports were out that his reign would not be a long one. When Cody won a #1 contender’s match last Friday night on Smackdown and the title match was signed for the following RAW, it seemed like the writing was on the wall for Sami being nothing more than a transitional champion.
While they took a different path to get there than many expected, the end result was still the same.
Sami Zayn was WWE Champion for 9 days.
Now, all of Sami’s ride-or-die fans are left to pick up the pieces. New WWE Champion CM Punk is likely headed to that rumored showdown with Cody Rhodes at Summerslam, and it’s unclear at this point where that leaves Sami heading into the biggest show of the summer. Like his short-term prospects, how Sami’s career will go after getting his first taste of the industry’s top prize is uncertain. Here is a look at a few of the ways that Zayn’s path could take him.
The Stan Stasiak Path
Canadian Stan Stasiak had a legendary career that spanned the better part of three decades from the late 50’s to the mid 80’s. He wrestled all over the world, including stints in various promotions in Canada, Japan, and the United States. He held what is now the WWE Championship just once in his career, and the parallels between him and Sami Zayn are a little eerie.
In 1973, Stasiak returned for a second stint in what was then the WWWF. After mixing it up with top stars like Andre the Giant for a few months, Stasiak won the WWWF Heavyweight Championship on December 1st, defeating Pedro Morales, who had held the championship for almost 3 years. After wrestling Chief Jay Strongbow to a no-contest in his first title defense, Stan walked into Madison Square Garden just 9 days into his title reign and lost to Bruno Sammartino, who would go on to hold the title for over 3 years himself.
In essence, Stasiak, who was working as a heel at the time, served as a transitional champion to get the belt off Morales and onto Sammartino. Stasiak would leave the WWWF in the fall of 1974, and although he would return to the company for another four-year stint in the late 70’s, Stan would never win the WWWF Championship again.
Sami Zayn’s ride-or-dies should be hopeful that Sami doesn’t follow in Stan Stasiak’s footsteps.
The Christian Path
Before stars like Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre ventured outside the WWE to raise their profile to return to the company as top draws, Christian laid the groundwork for them to be able to do that.
From 1998 until 2005, Christian was a mid-card mainstay and tag team specialist in the WWE. After parlaying his time in The Brood into a legendary tag team run with Edge, where they would hold WWE tag team gold 7 times, Christian would break off on his own and hold just about every secondary and tertiary title the WWE offered. In the fall of 2005, Christian’s contract was about to expire, and despite maintaining his status as a fan favorite, a main event run didn’t seem to be in the cards. Less than two weeks later, Christian made a surprise debut in TNA, adding the ‘Cage’ back to his ring name. Over the course of a run in TNA that lasted exactly three years, Christian would hold their top prize on three occasions.
When Christian returned to WWE, he did so on the rebooted ECW brand and became ECW Champion just a few short months after returning. It took over a year, a torn pectoral muscle, and an Edge retirement, but Christian finally won the Big Gold Belt on May 1st, 2011. Famously, just two days later, he would lose the title to Randy Orton on a taping of Smackdown. At Money in the Bank in July, Christian would win the World Title back from Orton, but his second reign would only last 28 days.
Christian has done nothing but add to his Hall of Fame resume since then, but he would never win another World Championship in WWE. He was able to add a second, slightly longer title run to his first extremely short one, but would never hold a world title in WWE again. Could Sami find himself in a similar boat?
The Daniel Bryan Path
Before conquering the Authority and becoming champion at Yes-tleMania in New Orleans, Daniel Bryan had a less memorable run with the World Title that started in December of 2011. After winning Money in the Bank as a big-time babyface, Daniel Bryan cashed in his briefcase and became an insufferable heel as champion. That run led to WrestleMania 28 and Sheamus’ infamous Brogue Kick, allowing the Celtic Warrior to defeat Bryan in just 18 seconds.
That match and the following two years would see Daniel Bryan join forces with Kane as a part of Team Hell No, which eventually led to an even bigger World Title victory at WrestleMania 30, thanks to the Yes! Movement.
The parallels to Sami Zayn’s path here are pretty uncanny. While Daniel Bryan’s initial World Title reign was longer than the 9 days Sami’s lasted, the hope of many in the WWE universe is that a long-term story where Sami gets back to the top of the industry is just getting started. After getting a taste of the World Championship, Daniel Bryan was one of the most entertaining and ‘over’ stars in the entire WWE for a few years after, which made that moment in the Louisiana Superdome when he vanquished Batista and Randy Orton hit even harder.
So what do you think, Cagesiders? Is Sami Zayn about to enter his Team Hell No era and take us on a run to Wrestle-Zayn-ia in the coming years? Or is it more likely that the Last Real Good Guy ends up with one transitional title run like fellow Canadian, Stan Stasiak? Let us know in the comments below, and if you haven’t yet, head over to the poll Geno posted last night and sound off there too!
