It is a fact that Sami Zayn’s career in the WWE was going nowhere until WWE creative came up with a brand new idea at the Hell in a Cell PPV.
They decided to turn him into a villainous persona for the first time. Zayn had an illustrious career even outside the WWE but had never played a heel persona on screen. He has always been an incredible in-ring performer who earned the respect of the audience by the presence inside the squared circle.
However, the charisma of the veteran indie star was missing on the WWE main roster. It was due to a poor booking of the “Underdog from the Underground” character from the get going. He never had the opportunity to feature in the spotlight ever since debuting on Raw in 2016.
So, a drastic change was much needed, and the heel turn was just that. Zayn helped his former best-friend turned bitter rival, Kevin Owens costing Shane McMahon in the main event of the Hell in a Cell PPV. Going forward, he even formed an ally with the prizefighter on the blue brand.
Apparently, the idea of giving Zayn a heelish character was turned down by the creative. Not only that, one of the top brass figures among the officials have shot down the idea who was the one to bring the Canadian superstar under the wings of the WWE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-256SqCWBOc
In a recent sit-down with Kevin Nash, former DX member, X-Pac aka Sean Waltman revealed that he pitched the idea of turning Sami Zayn into a heel character to the WWE Creative. However, none other than Triple H rejected the idea. In case you don’t know, he is the head honcho of the NXT where Sami became the prime champion under his wings. Check out his words from the podcast about the whole thing:
“Crazy thing, It might have been six months ago, maybe not that long ago…I was like; they aren’t doing much with Sami Zayn. It’s a crying shame because he’s one of the best talents they (WWE) has. So, I got on my phone, texted Hunter: you should turn Sami Zayn heel.”
“You would not believe how he crapped on that idea. I mean, he thought I was a complete moron for suggesting that.”
We can’t blame The Game for thinking like that, as no one possibly wanted to see a heel Zayn on WWE TV. But, at this time, the officials were cornered in a situation where they have to save the career of the talented superstar. So, the trigger got pulled.