Details behind Sami Zayn's emotional Smackdown promo
Added 2023-02-18 21:08:49 +0000 UTCSami Zayn had a special segment in Montreal on the February 17 episode of Smackdown ahead of Elimination Chamber.
Zayn had a busy week ahead of the show, showing up to do promotional appearances mid-week, doing media all day Friday, and even doing Raw in Brookyln Monday and getting a speeding ticket. As of Thursday, his opponent Roman Reigns was not scheduled for Friday's Smackdown.
Zayn cut a promo to close out Smackdown, which was always designed to just be one segment. After the heavy online requests from fans, Zayn's original WWE theme "Worlds Apart" was brought back. Michael Hayes was responsible for producing the segment, as he has been for a lot of WWE's high-level, world title related segments since the Bloodline era started.
Those backstage claim that Zayn looked "visibly anxious and nervous" ahead of the promo, but didn't elaborate on what that meant.
We're told that some that were in the know were expecting somewhat of a different promo to occur, but that Zayn accounted for the crowd reaction and let the segment breathe. There was some panic on the production end, having to edit and black out the "Fuck You Roman" chants. There was also one source that claimed that those in the Gorilla position were confused and expecting a different kind of promo, but we've not had that subsequently confirmed by additional sources. Those that we heard from were very happy with how things ended up, with one longtime producer calling it "special."
Comments
Watch it all go to waste when Sami loses and is relegated to the Andre Battle Royal next month.
CSDX
2023-02-19 00:57:32 +0000 UTCSame I hit rewind so many damn times and turned it off and turned it back on
Andrew Owsiak
2023-02-19 00:36:39 +0000 UTCSami don’t need the title
Collin Ingram
2023-02-18 23:22:52 +0000 UTCThe best wrestling segments happen just like this. Super hot crowd. Super hot story. I really hope when it comes times to retire Sami works backstage as a producer.
thaddperkins
2023-02-18 21:44:46 +0000 UTCThat was definitely special!
Dylan Stewart
2023-02-18 21:40:36 +0000 UTCThere’s a slightly greater than zero chance someone might try to stab Roman
Jon Blain
2023-02-18 21:39:06 +0000 UTCThey made me think my tv was broke with the sound cutting out!
Cody
2023-02-18 21:36:46 +0000 UTCThey gotta put the world title on Zayn. Do a screwy finish that adds him to the Maina main event. Honestly I’d pivots & just have Zayn beat Reigns clean. No one in WWE or in all of wrestling is hotter than Sami
Matt Hennessy
2023-02-18 21:30:37 +0000 UTCBrother, Jey uso is gonna need police escort once he superkicks him back to Final Battle 2012. Fired up
garret
2023-02-18 21:10:22 +0000 UTC
