Sami Zayn Should Win WrestleMania 33’s Andre the Giant Battle Royal
By Tim Sherry
Why Sami Zayn needs to walk out of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal with his hand raised.
On the Mar. 20 RAW, Sami Zayn decided to intervene on behalf of a newly fired Mick Foley. Minutes earlier, Stephanie McMahon had informed Foley of his termination via microphone in the center of the ring in front of a sellout crowd at The Barclays arena in New York City. A humiliating moment for a WWE legend, Foley stood humbled until one of his biggest fan’s music hit. It was “The Underdog From The Underground” Sami Zayn. Zayn, in what could inevitably turn into one of the biggest career moves to date in his somewhat short WWE tenure, stood eye to eye with one of the biggest authoritarians in the entire company and blasted her for her treatment of Foley. This led to a match and an eventual loss to Stephanie’s new henchman, Samoa Joe.
A week later Zayn stood pat about his feelings and in honor of Foley decided to enter and win The Andre The Giant Battle Royal. Enter Stephanie again this time forcing him to fight his way into the match at Wrestlemania 33 but this time Sami was successful in doing so by pinning former Universal Champion Kevin Owens.
So why is this recent spat with Stephanie McMahon so important for Zayn? Very simple: pretty much anybody that challenges The Authority immediately gets pushed into a prominent program. Is this the beginning of a major move for Zayn? Only time will tell, but the first step towards entering into a massive feud that could potentially lead to Universal title shots should be for Zayn to win this marquee battle royal.
His two biggest obstacles in this match, so far at least, will be The Big Show and Braun Strowman. I argue that not only should Zayn win but he should also eliminate these two behemoths. This will not only bring major credibility to him, but to the battle royal itself that hasn’t exactly been all that helpful in spring-boarding the careers of the previous three winners. Sure, Baron Corbin has had a nice year since his win but Cesaro and The Big Show’s wins did virtually nothing for either man. Now would be a good time to start providing some momentum for what should be an extremely prestigious match based on who it’s dedicated to.
Zayn has allthe tools to become a massive star star. Bank on it. His ride is a bit similar to that of Daniel Bryan’s. Both were indy wrestling darlings, both are outstanding inside the ring, and both have that beautiful underdog story. Granted, Bryan’s crowd support was obviously on a different level, but Zayn’s fandom seems to rise every time he comes to the ring and it can only improve with his new found “protector” role.
One thing is for sure, if Zayn is catapulted into the main event scene and is given the opportunity to work final matches ranging in the 20-30 minute zone, expect brilliance. Outside of AJ Styles, Zayn might be the most entertaining in-ring guy on the roster right now. If you read our top 15 matches of 2016, you’ll see that Zayn was involved in some capacity in four of them, two of them in the top three. With even more on the line, there’s no doubt that Zayn would deliver in a major way.
Zayn’s recent behavior has him on Stephanie’s naughty list and could lead to her termination from RAW, but at the same time she’s made it clear that she wants that Andre The Giant trophy with the red brand. If Zayn brings it to her, that’s called job security and instantly makes him a major player in Monday nights.
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2017 could be a huge year for the “Battery Man” and the shift to to bigger and better things could start Sunday at Mania. Zayn could be the next major star on a brand that is in desperate need of one. But will the WWE ever consider Zayn that type of guy? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is for sure, the WWE Universe already thinks he is and it’s time for the rest of the world to take notice.