Ex-WWE employee explains issue with Sami Zayn (Exclusive)

The go-home episode of WWE SmackDown before Clash in Paris ended with a massive surprise for the Lyon crowd. Sami Zayn challenged the United States Champion, Solo Sikoa, in the main event of the show and ended up overcoming his former Bloodline stablemate, winning the US Championship for the first time in his career.

The crowd erupted with cheers for the fan favorite, but former WWE employee Vince Russo recently explained the issue with the new United States Champion. After being thwarted in his pursuit of a world championship by Karrion Kross, Sami moved to SmackDown to shift his focus to the United States Title.

Addressing the champion on Sportskeeda Wrestling's BroDown, Russo stated that Sami Zayn isn't convincing enough as a wrestler. He stated that a casual fan would look at the 41-year-old wrestler and immediately think that they could beat him easily.

"If you've got four to six buddies together drinking beer, either they're at home or they're at the bar or wherever they are, and Sami Zayn comes on that screen, you know, every one of those guys are saying, "I could beat that guy's a**." You know, that's what regular people are saying, man," Russo said.

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Russo has often been one of Sami Zayn's harshest critics, but the Canadian wrestler is massively over with the crowd. The fans love to cheer for an underdog character, and Zayn is one of the best to portray that character inside the WWE ring.

With his win in Lyon, France, Sami Zayn has now added another feather to his cap. Since joining WWE back in 2013, he has won the NXT Championship once and won the WWE Tag Team Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 39 with Kevin Owens. He has also been a four-time Intercontinental Champion and is a world title win away from becoming a grand slam champion.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Faiz Ahmed