Sami Zayn WWE Champion Reign Starts With a Messy Finish

Friday night in Corpus Christi showed exactly what the Sami Zayn WWE Champion era looks like so far: a champion who wins with help, while the help keeps showing up at the most awkward moments. Sami retained the Undisputed WWE Title over Kevin Owens after CM Punk hit Owens with the belt; the finish was muddled, and a flat Texas crowd barely reacted. The finish was messy, but the dead building should worry WWE even more.

Sami won the title a week earlier in Mexico City. Owens swung the belt at Sami and hit CM Punk instead; Johnny Gargano got involved, and Sami used a low blow and a Helluva Kick to steal the championship from Punk. Friday was supposed to be the first real test. Instead, Punk saved the man who cost Him the belt.

How the Sami Zayn WWE Champion Run Started

I have no complaints about the result. SmackDown needed a shakeup, and I liked CM Punk as champion, but there are too many strong names on the blue brand to park the title on one guy for months. Punk’s promos against Owens were already running low on ammunition, as we argued back in August, and a change gave everyone a fresh problem to solve.

Johnny North agrees and calls Sami one of the most deserving champions in the business. His reasoning is simple: Sami worked for this since the start of his career, lost the first run, and did not disappear afterward. Now he gets to do it again, and Johnny thinks that makes the story more interesting than a first-time champion could.

The Finish That Confused Everyone

Here is what happened. Owens hit a pop-up powerbomb and a Stunner, then CM Punk appeared out of nowhere and blasted Owens with the WWE Title. Sami covered; the referee appeared to count to three, then signaled that Owens had his shoulder up, and Sami had to hit another Helluva Kick to end it. Punk then put a GTS on both men on his way out.

Johnny and I disagreed on why. Johnny called it a botch, and said you could tell from the fans, who were unhappy. It hurt a match that was a win-win either way. I read it as deliberate, a way to feed the everybody-is-against-Sami conspiracy that keeps him a persecuted coward of a heel. Either way, a finish that leaves the building asking what just happened is not what you want in the first defense.

The crowd made it worse. They chanted for CM Punk during the finish, and when it ended there was almost no reaction. Johnny North offers the fairer defense: there was very little to cheer for. Johnny Gargano coming out to demand a title shot is not a moment that gets Corpus Christi out of its seats, and neither of us wanted to see that match anyway. Johnny also pointed out that WWE billed the main event as the first-ever singles title match between Owens and Sami, which is not true. WWE inventing its own history is nothing new, but it does not help a show that already felt flat.

Kevin Owens Still Stole the Night

Owens deserves credit for the show’s best moments. His promo on Nick Aldis was sharp. He demanded a title shot; Aldis said he would not reward bad behavior after Owens interfered the week before, and Owens fired back that Sami had interfered in match after match. Then he threw in a line about a triple threat that somehow ended in a no contest. I was in Ottawa for that triple threat, it was very stupid, and I appreciated that Owens knew it.

Johnny’s favorite moment was smaller. While chopping away at Sami, Owens pointed at a kid in the crowd holding a Sami Zayn sign after each chop. WWE rarely gets moments like that because everything is built for the whole arena, not for one person, and it worked because it was for one kid.

Why a Bouncing Title Helps SmackDown

Cody Rhodes held this title for a long time. Since it left Cody, it has gone to Sami, then Punk, then back to Sami. After a stretch of reigns that lasted months and sometimes years, a moving title is a title that matters. Orton, Owens, Punk, and Cody Rhodes are all still circling it, and nobody can say the belt is safe on any given Friday. That uncertainty is why you tune in.

The Sami Zayn WWE Champion story works because Sami is not a dominant champion, and that is the point. He is a cowardly heel who wins with help and cheating, with Gargano half on his side after Sami promised him a title shot and then claimed he never did. That gives the reign a plot, and a plot lasts longer than a run of clean wins.

The second run always means more, because then the promotion is saying, not only did we let you into the club, you are really a member of this club. You are a main eventer.

— Dave Simon, Wrestling Uncensored

I have said for years that the first run is not important. It is the second run, and what you do with it, that separates a guy who visited the club from a guy who belongs to it.

Crown Jewel and Saudi Arabia: Where Sami Fits

Crown Jewel is scheduled for November 7 in Riyadh, and Johnny North believes the Sami Zayn WWE Champion story travels to Riyadh with Sami holding the title and could even land a champion-versus-champion match with Roman Reigns, the World Heavyweight Champion and the center of the Bloodline problem we keep writing about. He expects this reign to last longer than the last one. The complication is the U.S. State Department’s Level 3 advisory for Saudi Arabia, which asks Americans to reconsider travel.

WWE has called the situation a topic of discussion internally, but it remains committed to the November 7 date. My view: they will go. They always go. Johnny North’s read is the same, since the company has people high enough up to get clearance, and his only hope is that fans think twice about following.

What Comes Next: Money in the Bank

Money in the Bank is October 10 in New Orleans, which leaves roughly three more weeks of television. I keep landing on a Sami, Owens, and Punk triple threat, because Friday gave all three men a grievance and none of them a resolution. Johnny North thinks Finn Bálor should stay in the mix, too. The official Money in the Bank page has the qualifier list.

My call on the Sami Zayn WWE Champion storyline is that WWE builds toward that triple threat. Whether Sami leaves it with the belt is the real question. Johnny thinks the reign lasts, while I think it can move at any moment, and I could be wrong: if WWE gives Sami one clean win in a proper rematch, the lucky-champion angle stops working.

Reality Check: Two Wins, Zero Clean Finishes

The Reality: Sami has won the title with a low blow and kept it because CM Punk hit somebody else with the belt. That works for a month. It does not work through Crown Jewel unless WWE lets him win one match on his own.

Sami Zayn WWE Champion Frequently Asked Questions