The race at the Intercontinental Championship of Sami Zayn this year was significant by various measures.
From a Canadian perspective, the most notable aspect is the fact that Zayn was the 15th Canadian to win the Intercontinental title and join a list that includes Bret Hart, Roddy Piper, Edge, Kevin Owens and first Intercontinental champion Pat Patterson.
“Shit, that’s a damn good list to follow, man. He is a world-class talent,” says Zayn with a broad smile on his face. And the smile is justified. Zayn won the right to place his name next to the Canadian Elite in professional Wrestling.
In his race as InterContinental champion in 2020, Zayn did not hesitate to promote the fact that he is Canadian. Before his Survivor Series match against US Champion Bobby Lashley, Zayn was always quick to note that he represented Canada as well as all countries as Intercontinental champion, in contrast to his opponent, who represented only one country.
It was a cowardly reminder of one of the biggest long-term angles in WWE history, when Bret Hart was a hero in Canada thanks to his patriotism for the Great White North, while at the same time being vilified in the United States for his rude comments towards America.
“When I had the opportunity to compete against Bobby Lashley, I tried to play on it,” Zayn tells Sportsnet. “I would like to make a more modern version, a bit more of an intellectual approach, a bit more of a factual approach to what Bret did in 1997, because I thought it was revolutionary. It has never been done before, and it has never been done since. World hero, (but) despised in a country like this.”
But in the highly politicized climate of 2020, the idea of boasting one country’s virtues while insulting another is a hard line, Zayn admits.
“I jumped off my skin for years doing something like this,” Zayn said. “When I got injured and came back, that was kind of an idea I had – if they put me in the race for the U.S. Championship after I came back, and I could make this character similar to what Bret did, and modernize and update. In all honesty, when the opportunity came to do it a little against Bobby Lashley, I found myself not wanting to go too hard because the reality is actually too get down.
“It’s like, Man, it’s not fun. Nowadays we are beaten on the head too much anyway … it just wasn’t funny how I had dreamed about it for years.”
This does not mean that Zayn would not try the idea in the future.
“I still think it’s something that could be really fun and really fun,” Zayn says, but with Foresight who want to modernize the idea of a foreign talon. “So it doesn’t just say,” hey, I’m Canadian and I think America sucks,” because I think it’s a bit one-dimensional. I love that there are always little elements of truth where you are like,” Well, it’s not entirely wrong. I mean, he’s a bit con (in) how he goes about it, and he’s hideous, but there’s some merit to what he says, ” and that’s the line I walk like a heel.”
Zayn and his compatriot Kevin Owens became the flag bearers of Canadian Wrestling in the WWE. His efforts to promote Canada-inside and outside the ring have not gone unnoticed north of the border, certain social media outlets, suggesting that an appointment of Lou Marsh was a way that is worthy of recognizing that the achievements of Zayn as a Canadian, both inside and outside the ring where Zayn is, are positively active.
Zayn, in a terribly Canadian way, minimized the idea of being included on the short list for the Canadian athlete of the year.
“I don’t think about myself at this level,” says Zayn, explaining that ” there are people who do really wonderful things and engage in a sporting competition that is a direct competition.”
Recognizing the barriers between success in professional Wrestling and success in professional sports, Zayn States, “if you’re the best hockey player in the world, it’s not because the right people are behind you and you’re a good speaker. That’s only because their athletic ability is undeniably the best. Therefore, the struggle is different in this respect, because there are so many variables behind it.”