Sami Zayn beating CM Punk for the WWE Championship looked like the kind of move that immediately set up a rematch. Apparently, that might not be where WWE is trying to take this.
While speaking during a Self Made Session, Self Made Pro admitted his first thought was pretty simple. Punk loses the belt in Mexico City, gets another shot at Worlds Collide in Chicago, and takes it straight back. Then he spoke with people in WWE the following day, and a different name kept coming up. In other words, Sami may be holding the championship that WWE eventually wants Owens to take.
“My brain immediately went to, ‘Oh, Punk should just win this back at the Worlds Collide show in Chicago, head-to-head with All Out. Like, they should just do Punk and Sami.’ And they may. They may do that. But what I found interesting was that once I picked the brain of people the next day, the feeling was less so that and more so an expectation that this is a way to get the belt to Kevin Owens, which was interesting.”
Self Made Pro wasn’t reporting Owens as a locked-in future champion. He made that clear. What stood out was how naturally people in WWE he spoke with connected Sami getting the belt with eventually putting Owens over.
“What I do know is that people, when you talk to them, they go, ‘Oh yeah, Sami got the belt because he’s going to put over Kevin.’ And so that’s kind of what’s happening there.”
That certainly makes the way Sami won the championship worth another look. Owens was right in the middle of the September 11 SmackDown finish in Mexico City. Punk had already made Sami tap to the Anaconda Vice without the referee seeing it because of Candice LeRae’s distraction. Johnny Gargano got involved too, before Owens tried to hit Sami with the championship and accidentally nailed Punk instead. Sami eventually hit the Helluva Kick and walked out as WWE Champion for the second time.
There were already signs that WWE wasn’t changing the title just to give Mexico City a surprise. It was previously reported that Sami getting the championship at that particular point fit an idea and timeline WWE had involving the growing group of wrestlers around the title.
Sami and Owens have spent years going from brothers to enemies and back again. If the WWE Championship is about to come between them one more time, there probably isn’t a cleaner way to make things personal.
Would Kevin Owens taking the WWE Championship from Sami Zayn be the payoff you want from this story, or should Sami’s reign go somewhere else? Let us know 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.
