WWE’s Sami Zayn opens up on internalizing the news of Jay Briscoe’s death

In the second part of an interview with Ariel Helwani released Saturday, WWE star Sami Zayn talked about how he came to grips emotionally with the sudden passing of Jay Briscoe earlier this month. 

“I’ll never wrestle him again and that really sucks, that hurts. That’s the closest thing to understanding the reality of the situation. It’s not when I say ‘I’ll never see him again.’ It’s when I really say, ‘I’ll never get in the ring with him again’ that I feel the real application of what it is to be with him,” he said.

Both Zayn and Kevin Owens wrestled The Briscoes numerous times from 2006-2013 in both Ring of Honor and PWG with Jay Briscoe and Zayn also working several matches as singles.

Zayn is attending Briscoe’s funeral on Sunday in Laurel, Delaware. He hasn’t spoken with Mark Briscoe yet as he didn’t want to overwhelm him during this time, preferring something more personal than a text.

Zayn said hearing about Briscoe’s death reminded him of when he first heard Dusty Rhodes passed away. He initially didn’t know what to feel due to what he chalked up to instant denial/coping mechanisms and that it took him awhile for the reality to settle in while it hit his wife immediately.

In seeing pictures and videos on Twitter shortly after he first heard the news, he said he was mentally transported back to the aforementioned era to help him relate.

“Obviously, I’m devastated for his family, his friends, his whole community. But obviously people internalize these things and relate it to themselves. I can’t help but be transported back to 2006, 2007, and that time in my life which was a great time in my life. They were a big part of that time. It’s just so sad,” he said.