WWE: Don’t Be Worried About Sami Zayn’s Lack of a Push

Roman Reigns is positioned as the top babyface on Monday Night Raw, but nobody in the men’s division of the red brand is as quintessential of a babyface as Sami Zayn.

There can be no doubt that Sami Zayn is one of the best workers in the WWE already, even though he only debuted on the main roster at the beginning of 2016. Zayn has yet to capture any titles on Raw, and he wasn’t even a big part of the program following the brand split until his feud with Braun Strowman, which began in October.

As expected, Zayn has been used to get a few heels over. Nobody did a better job at building up Strowman than Zayn did, because his selling, which may surpass Dolph Ziggler’s as the best in the company, helped showcase Strowman as a monster. Now, someone with Strowman’s size doesn’t need much help in order to look like a beast, but Zayn made every move look even more devastating. More recently, he’s helped make new main roster debutant Samoa Joe seem like a ruthless enforcer, as they put on one of the only passable matches on the Fastlane card.

Zayn’s work over the past several months has been exemplary, and he’s received plenty of praise from fans and critics. However, fans familiar with Zayn’s work are worried about “The Likable One”, because he hasn’t been involved in titles matches and hasn’t won anything of significance. Additionally, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that Zayn’s “mini-push” will end soon, leaving many asking, “Well, what push was that?”

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I don’t buy the fact that the WWE will suddenly toss Zayn to the side, so I don’t think fans should be worried about him never receiving a push in the near future. Not only would a switch to SmackDown Live put him in a position to grab a mid-card title or earn a main event feud, but the fact of the matter is that Raw didn’t book Zayn as weakly as some may think.

Even though it didn’t seem like it based on the beatdowns he took, Zayn technically won his feud with Strowman by lasting long enough at Roadblock: End of the Line. Sure, Mick Foley bought some time for him and Strowman’s own hubris prevented him from scoring the victory in the allotted time, but the WWE didn’t book him to take the loss for a reason. Secondly, Zayn did beat Seth Rollins in a face vs. face match for a Royal Rumble spot. That match meant just as much as the match between Natalya and Nikki Bella for the captain’s spot at Survivor Series, but, again, they trusted Zayn with winning the match.

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The reason why Zayn hasn’t won a program of consequence is simply because there’s been nobody for him to beat. He can’t go over Chris Jericho, because Jericho is already going to let Kevin Owens take the United States Championship from him at WrestleMania 33. Jericho lets young talent beat him at just about every opportunity, but it wouldn’t be wise for him to look weaker in the build-up to his match with Owens. Zayn couldn’t beat Samoa Joe either, because Joe wouldn’t look like much of a “Destroyer” if he were vanquished in his first feud on the main roster. Joe is likely being built up as a member of a fearsome stable with Owens and Triple H, so they have to protect him at all costs.

I mentioned Ziggler’s selling earlier in the piece for a reason, and that’s because some fans are drawing parallels between Zayn and Ziggler’s lengthy babyface run. Ziggler never received as many victories as his talent dictated, potentially because he was better at getting others over with his selling. I don’t think the comparison is apt for a few reasons. First of all, I am confident he will end up on SmackDown Live, which does a better job of balancing wins and losses among their talent. Secondly, the desire to define wrestlers by world title runs just isn’t wise, and you only have to look at old-school legend like Mr. Perfect to see that you don’t need to win world title gold at every turn in order to make a huge impact in this industry. Thirdly, the company spent so much time building up Zayn in NXT and in his feud with Kevin Owens that they wouldn’t throw it all away.

In the short-term, it looks like Sami Zayn is on the back-burner of the WWE’s plans, but booking is all about opportunity and recency. Once Zayn is in a position where he can face people who are not being built up for a future program, he can start to capture signature wins. He hasn’t been on the roster for long, but it’s already clear that he has the company’s trust. Zayn can pull some of the best babyface promos in this business, his in-ring work has always been held in high regard, and the psychology in his matches and promos (just look at his work with Strowman in the ring and Mick Foley outside of it) are top class.

Unless if the fans suddenly abandon Zayn (this isn’t happening, because he regularly receives huge pops and fan support), he won’t be forgotten by the people making the decisions behind the curtain. Even though he hasn’t been winning, he’s been involved in some of the most important programs on Raw, and it’s telling that he’s been a sleeper to be a Royal Rumble “Ironman” or a potential “Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale” winner.

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Because Zayn is portrayed as the ultimate underdog and executes this role believably, he can afford to take tough losses with reasonable protection from the writer’s room. This makes it difficult for him to be truly “buried”, and it means that a build to a big moment can come at any time in the future.