Add as a preferred source on Google Sami Zayn isn’t hiding how he feels about the way WWE has booked the Undisputed WWE Championship picture heading into SummerSlam.
Zayn, who meets Finn Bálor in a No. 1 contender’s match on night two of the show in Minneapolis, told ESPN that Cody Rhodes and CM Punk were handed far easier paths to the title than he was, while he has to go out and earn another shot.
“Well, I think anybody who would be in my shoes would not be thrilled and I’m not thrilled, obviously. I did something that very few people can lay claim to. I pinned Cody Rhodes in the middle of the ring, clean as a whistle to become WWE champion, and I just think it’s crazy that somehow, I’m not gonna get into the whole thing of how Punk was put into the position that he was put into. To get the championship off of me, that’s fine. Champion is him, whatever. I’m not gonna get into all that. But the fact that I don’t get a rematch, that Cody who I just beat is perfectly lined up to get this championship opportunity and I’m not. The way that both of these guys got their championship opportunity was extremely simple. It was extremely easy for them, and then when I just, state my claim, I’m put in a position where I have to earn it. Go out there and earn it as if I haven’t been doing that already for the last, what, couple of decades, right? So, you know, it’s not the best feeling in the world. I’m used to it. So I take on the challenge headfirst because what else can I do?”
Zayn won the first world title of his career at Night of Champions on June 27 in Riyadh, pinning then-champion Rhodes in a triple threat that also involved Gunther. He held it nine days. Gunther took Rhodes out backstage before their scheduled Raw rematch in Chicago, Zayn was ordered to defend against a mystery opponent anyway, and a returning Punk beat him for the belt in front of Punk’s hometown crowd.
Zayn kept the heat on during the go-home SmackDown, arguing the SummerSlam title match should have been a triple threat and calling Punk “corporate poster boy number two.” Bálor fired back that Zayn didn’t lose the championship to an injury or a run-in the way he lost the Universal Title in 2016. Zayn just got beat.
Bálor earned his spot in the contender’s match by winning a fatal four-way over Damian Priest, Royce Keys and Trick Williams, finishing Priest with the Coup de Grace.