"He made him that night" - Former champion says John Cena helped Sami Zayn become a star in WWE
Former WWE Superstar William Regal has credited John Cena for making Sami Zayn a major star in the company.
Zayn made his main roster debut for WWE in 2015 as he went toe-to-toe with Cena for the United States Championship. While some fans knew of Sami, the vast majority were unfamiliar with his incredible body of work.
Speaking on the Gentleman Villain podcast, Regal said that Cena's unselfish behavior in the ring that night helped Sami shine.
"Absolutely complete and utter credit to John Cena for having a match with Sami Zayn and making him making quickly mean something to the WWE audience If they'd never seen him before. He made him [Sami Zayn] that night, by the performance, but he could have been very selfish and not given Sami."
He added:
"He made Sami the way he made as he did, with all of those guys that went up the Kevins [Owens] and all that those people, the very few people that would have ever done that and John went out and did that and made those people care about Sami." (From 1:33:45 to 1:34:27)
Sami Zayn's main roster debut is one of the most memorable moments in recent times, with a hometown crowd and Bret Hart welcoming him to the big stage.
Sami Zayn suffered a major injury in his debut against John Cena
Although the Canadian's debut against the 16-time world champion is one to remember, the match also came with a dark side.
During his entrance, Sami lifted his arms to hype up the crowd. However, he accidentally popped his shoulder out of its socket in the process.
Speaking on the New Day: Feel The Power podcast, Zayn recapped how the injury happened.
"I didn’t even know what it was, but it scared me a little bit. When my arm went down, it was back in and everything seemed fine. It was my debut against John Cena, maybe the biggest star ever, in my hometown and I’m getting this amazing hero’s welcome."
He added:
"At this point, I feel fine and we wrestle for about a minute. He gives me a back suplex and that’s when it’s out and it’s not getting back in. My arm was dead and I couldn’t roll and I think when I finally did roll, it went back in place." (H/T Wrestling News)
@TheLouisDangoor “Thanks but I just broke my shoulder”. https://t.co/PFjVuxea2o
Due to his shoulder injury, Sami Zayn missed seven months of action before making his in-ring return a year later at NXT Takeover: London.
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