Sami Zayn's Character: A "Choose Your Own Adventure"

Sami Zayn described his current character work as a "choose your own adventure" kind of thing in an interview with Fox News Digital, allowing for varied interpretations among the fanbase.

"Well, it’s kind of interesting because it might mean something different to different people. … There’s so much to say about this. I don’t even know where to start. It’s basically something where it’s up to you. It’s a bit of a choose your own adventure," he said. "I think if you’re a fan of mine and have been for a long time and you kinda wanted to see me win the big one and this and that and you just stuck with me and you weren’t like as fickle or as fair-weather as some fans who tend to tire out a bit quicker. If there’s a bit more of an emotional connection there and you have not yet been alienated, then you still might very much be on my side, the ‘ride or die fans’ as I call them. But they might be totally with me and to them, not a whole lot has changed, and to these other fans, they might have gotten sick of it."

"And you know, when I was working with Trick Williams and wrestling Trick Williams, it became very evident that here’s this new thing that’s very exciting and it’s like, ‘We’ve seen this. We’ve seen you. And it’s like you’re this comfortable pair of jeans and we get it but we want this now.’ And so then to kind of take that and go, ‘Ah, noted,’ and play with that a little bit and turn it to your advantage, it’s going to mean something different to those fans. So, that’s kind of the goal with this character at the moment. You can have it one way or you can have it another way. It’s kind of up to you. And the behavior will mean something different to one group of fans versus another."

Zayn suggested he took inspiration from how fans reacted to John Cena and Roman Reigns over the years, noting that the two Superstars didn’t necessarily change who they were, but leaned into where the fans were taking them.

"And the reason why I think this is a little different and I don’t want to get into the whole psychology of it all or get into big character breakdown but when I’m envisioning things about this, I look at guys who really split the crowd in the past like Cena for years, or Roman Reigns when he was like ‘The Big Dog’ and he was clearly the No. 1 good guy but a lot of fans were booing him and all this kind of stuff, those guys, the one thing I noticed about them is their behavior didn’t really change whether they liked them or they didn’t," he said. "They were just themselves. And the idea of being like my behavior changes depending on whether you like me or you don’t like me, which I think could be really interesting. And part of what excites me about that is it really kinda goes from crowd to crowd."

Sami Zayn and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes were photographed speaking during SmackDown at Unipol Arena in Bologna, Italy, on June 5, 2026. Zayn was also photographed entering SmackDown at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, R.I., on June 12, 2026.

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