Sami Zayn doesn’t expect fan ‘revolt’ if someone else wins WWE Royal Rumble

Sami Zayn is not expecting fans to revolt on Saturday if someone other than him wins the men’s Royal Rumble match. 

During an interview with Ariel Helwani on Friday, Zayn addressed comparisons of his popularity heading into the 2023 Royal Rumble to Daniel Bryan’s in 2014. 

Zayn believes fans have more trust in the company’s creative process now than they did then. He feels they have confidence in where his storyline with The Bloodline is headed, even if that doesn’t involve him winning the Rumble. 

Zayn said:

I think there’s a lot of casual fans who are just kind of along for the ride and I don’t think the fans are kind of where they were five, six years ago where they kind of would revolt and were, ‘No, Daniel Bryan’s the guy, you’re trying to give us Batista. No! We’ll force you! We’ll force you!

I don’t feel that level of borderline contempt from the audience towards the creative direction. I think because the story’s been so interesting, there’s a little bit of trust in that it’ll go where it goes and it’ll still be fine. 

I’m sure there are a lot of people who are pulling for me, that’s great. It’s nice to be that guy but I don’t think it’s at a place where Daniel Bryan was, I believe in 2014 where it’s like anybody but him is going to be a disaster. It actually was [a disaster], so they had to fix it and they had to play cleanup. 

If they don’t do it right, there is the possibility of contempt towards whoever that person is whether it’s Cody, whether it’s anybody, it could be anybody. If it’s not done right, it could kind of hurt that person. But we work with a lot of people who know how to do things right. 

Later in the conversation, Zayn continued to talk about how fans will accept any storyline provided it’s done correctly. This includes him potentially beating Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. 

I said a moment ago, if you do anything right, fans will buy it and they’ll get into it. So, I think at this point, the way things have built – and I’m not saying this is what’s going to happen – but if it was me and Roman at WrestleMania and I beat Roman, and we did it right, in the way we’ve been doing it right the last nine months, no one’s gonna go, ‘Bogus! I’m out! I can’t take that!’ Because we’ve done it right. 

I think I could be a guy who could carry the title six months, go on Jimmy Fallon, make a couple of jokes, have him do his fake laugh that he does and all that good stuff. Sure, I could do that, sure. I could probably do it in my sleep to be honest. 

Zayn would continue to say that while he feels he could be champion, he does not believe he fits what WWE looks for as the face of the company. 

The champion and the face are almost two different things and I feel like I could be the champion, no problem. As far as being the guy they’re like, ‘Number one, he’s our guy, he’s the poster boy, he’s the ultimate representation of what our company is,’ I know physically I don’t fit that mold. 

As of this writing, Zayn has not officially declared for the Royal Rumble match. Only 16 out of 30 entrants have been revealed.