Vince Russo has no interest in walking back his criticism of Sami Zayn’s WWE Championship reign—even if it only lasted nine days.
Speaking on Two Man Power Trip, Russo was asked why he had spent so much time criticizing Zayn’s brief run with the Undisputed WWE Championship. With the title already back around CM Punk’s waist, the interviewer questioned why Russo still felt so strongly about it.
Russo’s answer was simple: the length of the reign doesn’t matter. The problem, in his eyes, was that Sami Zayn became WWE Champion in the first place.
“No, bro. It’s not a personal thing with Sami Zayn. The WWE World Champion’s supposed to be the greatest wrestler on the planet, okay? You can’t put Sami Zayn next to Hulk Hogan, man. I’m sorry. You just can’t do that. It’s got nothing to do with the dude personally. I don’t know him. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but when I look at the lineage of the WWE title going all the way back to Bruno, you just can’t put the title on that guy, bro. I don’t even care if it’s for nine days.”
The interviewer pushed back, pointing out that Zayn was clearly booked as a transitional champion to get the title onto CM Punk. Russo wasn’t convinced. To him, the moment WWE puts its biggest championship on someone, it changes what that title represents—regardless of whether the reign lasts nine days or nine months.
“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter, bro. What you’re saying by putting that out there is anybody… anybody could be the WWE World Champion. That’s what you’re saying, bro. Not anybody could be quarterback of the New England Patriots. It takes a special guy to be the quarterback of the New England Patriots. It should take a real, real special guy to be a WWE Champion. That’s my opinion.”
When the host argued that Zayn had spent more than two decades earning that opportunity, Russo again refused to budge, saying longevity doesn’t automatically make someone a believable world champion.
“Bro, come on. It’s not realistic. And that’s the s*** that turns casual viewers off. That’s the stuff that turns casual viewers away from the show.”
The debate didn’t stop with Sami. Russo said he felt the same way about other fan-favorite champions, naming Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston as wrestlers he also didn’t believe should have carried WWE’s top prize.
“Bro, I put like three guys. To me, Kofi, Daniel Bryan, and Sami Zayn. Come on, guys. Like, seriously. Come on, man.”
When the interviewer pointed to Bryan’s reputation as one of the greatest in-ring wrestlers ever, Russo argued that’s exactly where hardcore fans and casual audiences see wrestling differently.
“See what you just said? Best wrestlers. Casual fans see that, bro, and they’re like, ‘Get the f*** out of here, bro.'”
Even after Bryan’s popularity and success were brought up, Russo refused to change his position, insisting that casual viewers don’t judge champions by match quality—they judge them by whether they look and feel like larger-than-life stars.
For Russo, that’s why Sami Zayn’s nine-day reign was never the issue. Whether it lasted nine days or nine hundred, he believes the WWE Championship should only be held by performers who fit his vision of what the face of the company should look like.
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