Sami Zayn: Early Saudi Shows Felt Very Not WWE-ish, WWE Night Of Champions Was Seamless

Sami Zayn made his first appearance at a major WWE Saudi Arabia show at WWE Night of Champions, teaming with Kevin Owens to face Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa in the main event. 

There was never a reason given for Zayn not taking part in the Saudi events, but he stated that people assumed why he didn’t go. 

Zayn received the biggest ovation on the night during his introduction, and then he spoke Arabic to address the crowd. 

Speaking to Alex McCarthy of Inside The Ropes, Zayn reflected on the trip. 

“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,” he said.

Zayn & Owens were victorious in their bout against Reigns & Sikoa. 

The next step in the Bloodline story will be the trial of Roman Reigns, which takes place on the July 7 episode of WWE SmackDown. Fightful will have coverage of the show beginning at 8 p.m. ET. 

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