Sami Zayn Retains United States Championship on 9/12 WWE SmackDown In A Show-Stealer

Two weeks ago, Sami Zayn fought Solo Sikoa for the United States Championship in Paris, France. It was a tough battle, but Zayn ended up as the victor, shocking Sikoa and the fans. The win was perfect timing, though, as last week he wrestled John Cena in his previous appearance on Friday Night SmackDown. It’s significant because they fought for the same championship ten years earlier, when Cena was champion. The match ended in a disqualification, so he kept his championship.

On September 12, 2025, in an episode of Friday Night SmackDown, he embraced tradition and offered an open challenge. An energetic Rey Fenix came out, eager to win his first-ever championship in WWE. Was he about to become the new United States champion?

Zayn Retains Against Fenix in Tough Battle

Since making his WWE debut in April, Fenix has impressed both management and fans in a short amount of time. He already has a lot of highlights that show why he is a fantastic wrestler. Two weeks after his SmackDown debut, he faced El Grande Americano in an intense bout. His fatal four-way match at Worlds Collide for the NXT North American Championship showed his Lucha Libre expertise. He’s also been in a lot of tag team matches during his run so far. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been with his real-life brother, Penta.

He has instead teamed with Andrade, whose similar background has made working together easy. Wanting to show everyone that he deserves to be a champion, he decided to answer Zayn’s open challenge for himself. If he won, that would add another accolade to his WWE career so far. The match was very back and forth and intense, with both men pulling out everything in order to pin the other.

With decades of experience between the two, it was clear they weren’t going down without a fight. However, things took a turn for the worse when Zayn managed to get Fenix in the corner with an exploder. The first time, Fenix recovered quickly and got the pin, which was unsuccessful. But the second time was when it was really effective, as Zayn managed to hit him with the helluva kick, pinning him and retaining the United States Championship.