Sami Zayn explains why he felt somewhat deflated due to the negative reaction to his win in the Gauntlet Match on WWE RAW.
NXT commentator Booker T has claimed that Sami Zayn was “upset” with the fans’ negative reaction to his win in the Gauntlet Match on WWE RAW. Many fans had been hoping to see Chad Gable win the match, so some voiced their disappointment.
Speaking with Josh Martinez on The Superstar Crossover Podcast, Sami Zayn was asked whether Booker T’s comments were true.
“I was a little surprised to read that [laughs] because I basically bumped into Booker on the plane, and we were sitting next to each other, so we were just talking,” Sami Zayn said. “So it was pretty weird to see it on the internet [laughs]. But all this to say, no, I was very happy with the performance because he was talking about the performance itself, the match itself. I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I was very pleased with the match.
“It’s just unfortunate that it felt like the reaction to the win itself was a little split, if not a little more skewed towards Chad because we did such a great job of building Chad. He’s done a great job building himself. For sure, when you’re a good guy or whatever, or the bad guy, and you know where you’re headed, you just want the full investment. You want the full scope of the audience’s emotional investment.”
Sami Zayn: It Was A Little Deflating, But Everything Seems Bigger Online
Sami Zayn continued by noting that the match told an interesting story, as it split their investment between him and Chad Gable. He admitted that he felt somewhat deflated due to the negative reactions, but everything seems bigger when it gets online.
“I felt like this was an interesting story because it split the emotional investment in two, so you’re only getting 50% of the pie, right,” Sami Zayn said. “So that’s just an interesting dynamic. It is interesting because it makes it more compelling. But for sure, as a guy who’s job is to rally the entire audience behind him, which is what I sometimes feel like my job is as a good guy, I was a little let down that I felt like I couldn’t get the entire audience to rally behind me. That’s not even entirely true.
“During the match itself, it felt like they were very happy and invested in the whole thing, but the online backlash, with people feeling a little disappointed for Chad, which is very understandable, it was a little deflating. But again, this is something that I was kind of articulating to him when we were shooting the breeze on the plane. So I think maybe once it gets out online, it seems like a bigger deal than it is. But that’s all I was articulating to him.”
Sami Zayn also noted that people heard those comments out of context, as they did not hear the full conversation between him and Booker T.
The full video can be seen here:
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