Sami Zayn Calls Online Backlash To Him Winning Right To Face Gunther At WrestleMania ‘Understandable But Deflating’

Sami Zayn confirms he did speak to Booker T about the disappointment he felt in the backlash given to WWE because he was going to face Gunther for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XL instead of Chad Gable. 

Sami Zayn earned the right to face Gunther by winning a gauntlet on the March 11 episode of WWE Raw. He last defeated Chad Gable in that gauntlet and due to a previously-built story between Gable and Gunther, the reaction to Sami’s triumph was mixed, particularly online. 

Booker T would later go on to say that Sami felt disappointed in the reaction and in a new interview with Josh Martinez of Z100 on the Superstar Crossover podcast, Zayn admits that he did speak to Booker T privately on a plane and was surprised to see some of the details of their discussion appear online. 

“Well, I was a little surprised to read that. Because I basically bumped into Booker on the plane and we were just sitting next to each other. So, we’re just talking. It’s pretty weird to see that on the internet. All this to say, No, I was very happy with the performance, because he was talking about the performance itself, the match itself. I was like, ‘Yeah, I was very pleased with the match. It’s just unfortunate that it felt like the reaction to the wind itself was a little split, if not a little more skewed towards Chad’ because we did a great job of building Chad and he’s done a great job of building himself,” Sami admits. “When you’re a good guy or whatever, or bad guy, and you know where you’re headed, you just want the full investment, right? You want the full scope of the audience’s emotional investment. I felt like this was an interesting story because it splits the emotional investment in two. So, you’re only getting 50% of the pie, right? That’s just an interesting dynamic because it makes it more compelling. 

“For sure, as a guy whose job it is to rally the entire audience behind him. Which is what I sometimes feel like my job is as a good guy. I was a little let down that I felt like I couldn’t get the entire audience to rally behind me. At least, that’s not even entirely true,” he continued. “During the match itself, it feels like they’re very happy and invested in the whole thing. But the online backlash the day after, just with people feeling a little disappointed for Chad, which is very understandable. It just was a little deflating, you know? But again, this is just something I was kind of articulating to him as to just kind of shoot the breeze on the plane. So I think maybe once it gets out online, it seems like a bigger deal than it is. That’s all I was articulating to him.” 

Gable has currently offered to train Sami Zayn for his match against Gunther at WWE WrestleMania XL. 

As for Booker T, when addressing something he said about CM Punk recently, Booker advised it’s best not to take him seriously when he’s trying to entertain.

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