Sami Zayn won the WWE Intercontinental Championship in March at Elimination Chamber, defeating Braun Strowman in a 3-on-1 handicap match. He would defend it just once, at Wrestlemania 36, against Daniel Bryan, before disappearing off TV due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with the pandemic, rumours were Sami had minor surgery but not serious enough for him to lose the championship. WWE would strip him of the prestigious title on May 12th, after just 65 days due to those two reasons. Sami would continue to claim he is the real champion on Twitter, acting disgruntled by the decision made. So, technically, he is still the real Intercontinental Champion as he never lost the title, nor did he ever return the title as we saw on Smackdown in August, when he returned. He would return to TV interrupting new champion, Jeff Hardy, claiming the title as his, as well as getting into physical altercations with Hardy and the champion crowned in Zayn’s absence, AJ Styles.
Zayn was the start of the return to prominence for the Intercontinental Championship, all the way back in August of last year when he became the manager of former champion and fellow member of the Artist Collective, Shinsuke Nakamura. From Shinsuke being more apparent on TV to the feud between Sami and Bruan Strowman, it elevated the title into more of an important role than it had previously been used. Sami was at the forefront of one of the strongest mid-card’s WWE has had in years, with the likes of Daniel Bryan, Drew Gulak and AJ Styles to name a few who were vying for the title that was around the waist of Sami.
I think the main reason we all want to see Sami as the real Intercontinental Champion is simply, how unbelievably underrated the man is and this title being his first in WWE. The man debuted on the main roster in 2016 and had barely any title opportunities unless it was a part of a storyline. Yes, I know, his title win was a part of a non-title storyline but he actually won so it’s different. Sami, along with Cesaro and Nakamura, have always been among the most underutilized wrestlers on WWE’s payroll and for him to finally win his first title, it was amazing for fans generally, more so for his hardcore fans. For him to have it ripped away from him with no rhyme or reason was heart-breaking for a journeyman like Sami, which is why all think he is our real champion. Despite, me being a big fan of AJ and Hardy as the champion, Sami is still more deserving.
It’s a really interesting situation we find ourselves in with the title, firstly, it’s being featured as one of the most prominent things on Smackdown which hasn’t happened in years. Secondly, you’ve got two established stars in AJ and Hardy, involved with a wrestler who we can still class as on the rise in Sami. Zayn is 36 but his character work and wrestling ability make it feel like he has years left in the business and could carry Smackdown along with others. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sami walk away with the title and he would more than likely pin Jeff Hardy who can easily eat a loss and it wouldn’t affect him at all because it’s Jeff Hardy. Now Sami has come onto screen with the title, you can look at it and think this was the plan all along and all of us fans got played again, Sami was always going to reappear with the title claiming to still being the holder. If he had returned on AJ, it wouldn’t have worked as well with both being heels so WWE putting the title on Hardy, gives the babyface for Sami to bounce off of. Having AJ involved is a massive boost and gets the extra hype around it.
WWE is smart, they know Sami is a huge fan favourite, despite being a heel and having him return in this capacity looking even more like Fidel Castro than before is genius. He can win the title at Clash of Champions and be the massive heel dictator of the mid-card scene. We’ve seen his partnership with the Artist Collective become strained but you never know what’s around the corner for the Underdog from the Underground.