Sami Zayn has already clapped back at the critics who say he doesn’t look like a “typical” WWE Champion, but Eric Bischoff thinks WWE has a different issue to deal with.
Speaking on 83 Weeks, Bischoff was asked what he would do with Sami’s Undisputed WWE Title reign now that Zayn is holding the gold. Bischoff didn’t pretend this was an easy fix. He said Sami’s win feels like it came out of nowhere, and WWE now has to explain why fans should buy into him as champion.
“I… I don’t know. I mean, honestly, that’s a head scratcher for me. It because he did just kind of come from out of nowhere with this. It’s not like there’s any obvious stories, at least not to me. Now, maybe, you know, people that are listening to this and watch WWE more closely than I do can see a path, but sitting here right now, it feels to me like, well, I’d definitely be starting from square one because, like I said, there’s no origin story here. At least not an obvious one.”
That’s the part Bischoff says WWE needs to fix before anything else. Not the next challenger. Not the next big promo. The “why” has to come first.
“But that’s the first thing I would do is find out why. I’ve got to give him a reason why. Why did he end up in this position?”
Bischoff said fans need something believable enough to sink their teeth into, because that’s how wrestling stories actually work when they’re clicking.
“There has to be a somewhat plausible, believable—to the extent that I lean into what you’re presenting me. I’m allowing myself to set my belief aside and I’m just going to get sucked into the story because that’s how stories should work. I would figure out how to get to that because for me, this is just like dropped from the sky.”
That’s not Bischoff saying Sami can’t be champion. It’s him saying WWE can’t just hand him the top prize and expect everyone to fill in the blanks. Sami already pushed back on the idea that a champion has to look or act one specific way, but Bischoff’s point is about the rollout. In his view, WWE still owes fans the missing chapter.
Now the ball is in WWE’s court. Sami Zayn has the title, the critics are loud, and Bischoff thinks the company needs to give this reign a real backbone before it drifts.
Do you agree with Eric Bischoff, or is Sami Zayn already proving people wrong as WWE Champion? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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