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Sami Zayn is on an incredibly complex Road to WrestleMania that looks like it will be filled with twists and turns. When pitched the idea of a 77-year-old icon training him for The Show of Shows, wrestling veteran Vince Russo said it would be "downright embarrassing."
The former Undisputed Tag Team Champion and honorary Bloodline member has been vocal on RAW about his failure to get a big spot at WrestleMania 40 - just one year after headlining the show (on Night 1). It has been a crucial moment for his character development as we are beginning to see a different side of the star. Zayn recently made a reference comparing himself to "Rocky Balboa" - the iconic character that was played by the now 77-year-old legend Sylvester Stallone.
The Rocky reference came from the fact that Sami Zayn revealed earlier this month on RAW that Triple H told him he was Rocky after losing to Roman Reigns at the Elimination Chamber show in 2023.
On the latest episode of Writing with Russo, Vince Russo rejected the idea of Sylvester Stallone training Sami Zayn for WrestleMania 40 (amidst rumors of him appearing at WrestleMania 40):
"As a Sylvester Stallone fan from day one, 1976. First of all, obviously, he's not going to wrestle. So we're not tuning in to see him wrestle. We're tuning in to see him manage a guy that looks like Sami Zayn when we're familiar with Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, and Ivan Drago, now we're going to see him manage this jabroni? If you're a true Sylvester fan that you're trying to pull in, nobody is going to be interested in seeing him train a jabroni. I'm going to go one step further, as a Sylvester Stallone fan, that would be absolutely embarrassing. Downright embarrassing." (6:20-7:31)
You can watch the full video below:
Sami Zayn's road to WrestleMania may lead him to a very interesting place
Whatever happens, it looks like there are most definitely plans in place for Sami Zayn to compete at WrestleMania 40. The former Intercontinental Champion picked up a huge win over Shinsuke Nakamura - a man whom he recently lost to - and is gaining momentum.
Backstage, the Imperium trio had a face-off with him, with Intercontinental Champion Gunther teasing a match against Zayn at WrestleMania. However, names like Chad Gable are also in the mix, with some speculating that it could lead to a multi-man ladder match at WrestleMania 40 for the Intercontinental Championship.
If you take any quotes from this article, please embed the YouTube video and credit Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
You can also check out this video in which Ludwig Kaiser discusses why Imperium is so over.
