Vince Russo isn’t buying what WWE is trying to sell with Sami Zayn right now. After watching Zayn’s promo during the September 18 episode of WWE SmackDown, Russo said the Undisputed WWE Champion looked like he was working overtime to create a reaction that simply wasn’t coming from the crowd.
Zayn entered the show as Undisputed WWE Champion after defeating CM Punk one week earlier, and WWE immediately put him front and center as the new face of the title picture. Ringside News previously covered how WWE positioned Zayn to open SmackDown as champion, but Russo believes there is a major problem with how the character is connecting.
During Coach & Bro, Coach suggested that Zayn’s recent promos and interviews appeared designed to explain why fans should view him as a legitimate world champion. Russo said he noticed the same thing while watching SmackDown, but his biggest takeaway was the crowd.
“I could tell you this by watching that promo on SmackDown, okay? And I can tell you this. And again, guys, this is my opinion. He is trying really, really hard. He really is trying really hard and I’m listening to him and I’m listening to the crowd. There’s no heat there, bro.”
Russo said the bigger issue is that Zayn appears to be trying to manufacture something that should be coming naturally from the storyline.
“Like, that’s the problem. There’s no real heat with what he’s saying. He’s trying to create heat. Listen, I dealt with this with—we got a young guy at JCW, Kerry Morton, Ricky Morton’s son. And, you know, Kerry Morton is very young, 22, 23 years old. And he’s turning babyface, but he went out there and cut a promo where he was blatantly trying to turn babyface.”
Russo used Kerry Morton as an example of why he believes the story should create the reaction instead of forcing a wrestler to spell everything out with a microphone in his hand.
“And I’m like, ‘Kerry, they will turn you. The story will turn you. You don’t need—you don’t need the words. I promise you the story will turn you.’ And it just came across like Sami is trying to generate heat. But the story isn’t there for Sami to get the heat that he’s looking for. That’s just my take on it.”
Coach agreed with Russo’s point and brought up Dominik Mysterio as the opposite example. Dominik reached a point where crowds would drown him out the second he raised a microphone, something Coach described as organic heat that a company could never dream of manufacturing.
Russo believes Zayn also has another problem working against him — years of comedy helped make him popular in the first place. Now WWE is asking the audience to view that same character in a completely different way.
“What Sami—and I’ve said this a million times, bro—what Sami is working against as well is comedy got him over. They loved that stuff with Uce and all the stuff he was doing. Comedy got him over. Now you’re asking him to go from, you know, Lou Costello to this—to a world champion, bro.”
Russo said hardcore fans remember Zayn’s Bloodline run and everything that made him popular during that stretch, which makes suddenly expecting those same people to reject him much harder without a storyline giving them a real reason.
“And so that’s where if I—and bro, these are all hardcore fans watching this. They’re all 90%, 95%—if I’m the hardcore fan that loved Sami with the Bloodline and Uce this and that, now I’m supposed to hate the guy with really no reason. Bro, that’s a tough spot to be in.”
The criticism comes as WWE continues building the entire Undisputed Championship scene around Zayn. His title defense against Kevin Owens on the same SmackDown also became a talking point after the planned finish went sideways and the match continued after an apparent three-count.
Russo isn’t arguing that Zayn isn’t putting in the effort. In fact, that’s basically his entire point. He thinks Zayn is trying extremely hard to make WWE’s current direction work, but no amount of yelling into a microphone can magically create heat if the audience hasn’t been given a reason to feel it. WWE can put the championship around Zayn’s waist, but getting fans to react exactly the way creative wants is another fight entirely.
Do you agree with Vince Russo that Sami Zayn is trying too hard to manufacture heat, or do you think WWE’s current direction with him will eventually connect with the audience? Let us know what you think and leave your feedback in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
