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IMPACT Wrestling's Josh Alexander credited former WWE Intercontinental champion Sami Zayn for helping him learn how to play to the crowd.
The Walking Weapon, in an interview with Cageside, called it game-changing advice and said the match against Sami Zayn was when all the advice clicked together:
“I reiterate this a lot to a lot of younger wrestlers at Impact and throughout the independents. It took me about the 10 or 11-year mark [to learn],” Alexander says. “I wrestled El Generico (Sami Zayn) and I remember him telling me, ‘Just calm down and wait.’ We were in the ring and something happened. He said, ‘Wait, wait!’ I was just like, ‘What?’ I waited and all of a sudden you hear the crowd just come up to this insane level and I would have cut them off and they would have never been there because I would have just been going through the motions."
The IMPACT Wrestling X-Division champion went on to speak about how important the advice would be not only for him, but for other wrestlers as well:
"I had been told that same thing that El Generico (Sami Zayn) had told me 100 times previous to that. But in my 10 years and all the experience I [had] grinded on the indies, at that moment, that’s when everything kind of clicked and went together. Listening to the crowd, that’s when you get the ear for everything. I think it’s just reps. Some people can develop it after two or three years. But for a lot of people, it’s around that 10-year mark where you get that ear for the crowd. That’s really what we’re all about, is giving the fans what they want.” added Alexander.
Sami Zayn and Josh Alexander wrestled twice in singles competition for the Canadian promotion, Capital City Championship Combat. Josh Alexander emerged victorious both times but learned how to dictate the crowd's reaction while wrestling El Generico. The learnings certainly helped, as Alexander is currently one of the most popular stars in IMPACT Wrestling.
Sami Zayn wrestled two dark matches for IMPACT Wrestling
Sami Zayn wrestled two dark matches for IMPACT Wrestling in 2011, losing to The Amazing Red before rebounding with a victory over TJ Perkins. Sami Zayn wrestled as El Generico but never officially signed for IMPACT Wrestling.
Prior to his dark matches, Sami Zayn challenged Christopher Daniels for the IMPACT Wrestling X-Division Championship at PWG Guitarmageddon.
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