WWE star Sami Zayn recent spoke to Vulture Hound in a media call, where Zayn discusses his current partnership with Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura, and how he's growing into his managerial role. Zayn does admit that he hopes it's not a long-term role, but he's currently enjoying not wrestling. That and more below.
Partnership with Nakamura:
I enjoy not wrestling at the moment. I don’t know whether it was my idea or not. I do remember thinking it would be cool if I could have a couple of guys with me, and not just Nakamura, even if Nakamura was the first guy on the list. Partnering up with him, I think it’s beneficial for both of us because he’s been able to sort of be engaged a little more in the rivalry because, obviously, he speaks English pretty well, but there’s still a limitation on that with the language barrier, for as far as carrying a rivalry in the wrestling business, which is a lot of talks with smash obviously. I’m able to kind of pick up the slack in that regard. In my end, I really enjoy being ringside and trying to contribute to the masses and things like that. I’m still wrestling on the live event periodically, so it’s kind of the best of both worlds. At the same time, it’s kind of keeping my body a little bit of a break, kind of a free sheet. All in all, I think it’s good fun. I don’t think it’s going to be a permanent thing, but at least for the time being, I’m enjoying it for what it is.
How long he plans on being a manager:
I don’t think that’s the long-term vision. It’s certainly not my long-term vision. That’s something I may want to do when I’m done with in-ring competition, obviously, as I still have a lot to give in that regard. However, I do think, just in my limited time doing this, that I’ve been able to add a lot to the matches that he’s performing in, and so I do think there is something to be said about that, as an art form for that role. That managerial role is definitely a missing space in wrestling today, in WWE today. It kind of remind me just how fun it could be when it’s done right and, again, I don’t know if it’s going to end, it’s probably not a long-term thing, but for now, it’s kind of opened the door enough for me to really make me realise like, “oh this is something that I could really enjoy down the road when my in-ring days are over,” but I still think I do have a lot to contribute even when my body one day says no more.
On future feuds he hopes to have:
It remains to be seen how things will shake up on SmackDown. This past week, Shinsuke Nakamura and I were involved with Daniel Bryan, and certainly, he’s one of the people that I would look forward to wrestling if and when I would get back in the ring full-time on SmackDown. I’d say, Daniel Bryan, and of course, Roman Reigns, are the two that I would have my sights set on personally, but there’s a lot of really good guys who are getting a chance now to make their name. Guys like Shorty Gable and Ali. You’re going to see them in a bit more prominent roles, and I think, and I hope that they’re up for the task, but I think the roster can do really good things because it gives a lot of new guys opportunities. I’ll say Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns are the two guys that I’m ready to mix it up with the most. There are a lot of guys that I think will step up to the plate, and I think it’s exciting to see these guys develop.
Being apart from Kevin Owens:
It’s always fun performing with Kevin, especially because we know each other so well, and I think we have very good chemistry, but there’s so much content in WWE that if you’re around too much, it becomes redundant. Personally, I like a little bit of space at that time. I think when we do eventually mix it back up after being apart for a little while, I think the fans will be more intrigued and ready to see it again. I think you’ve got to give it a little bit of space now and again, and it’s interesting because I think at the moment, both of us are really exploring new sides of our career that we haven’t fully dabbled in too much. For example, for the first eleven years of my career, I pretty much didn’t talk at all. So now my new thing is pretty much just talking and talking a lot. So I’m exploring this new aspect of my character and this new sort of role. So is Kevin because he’s finding himself as a good guy on RAW and all of that and he hasn’t done anything like that in WWE for almost five years. He’s finding himself in a new role too, so I think it’s good for both of us to kind of go on separate paths and diversify our body of work and then hopefully, it’ll be a lot more intriguing when our paths will cross again.
