Sami Zayn struggles with hostile crowd on SmackDown; WWE veteran blasts his response (Exclusive)

Former WWE head writer Vince Russo spoke about Sami Zayn getting boos from the fans. SmackDown emanated from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL, this week.

SmackDown opened with an explosive segment between Sami Zayn and John Cena this week. Sami spoke about how Cena's United States Championship Open Challenge gave him a huge push back in the day. He wanted to pay it forward to the up-and-coming talent on the blue brand. However, as a sign of respect for the Cenation Leader, Zayn wanted John to be his first opponent in the United States Championship Open Challenge.

On the latest episode of BroDown with host Mac Davis, Russo noted that the passionate fans in Chicago almost got to Sami Zayn. He detailed that it wasn't Paris or any other international location where Sami was a beloved star. The veteran writer pointed out that Zayn was getting a loud chorus of boos, and it quickly pushed him to start pandering to the fans.

"Yeah, bro, I swear to God, if you go back and watch this, Mac, your boy, Sami, was getting rattled by the viewers. We ain't in Paris, Sami, we ain't in freaking Paris. We're in Chicago. And he was getting freaking rattled, and he so had to go the other way. 'Oh, these people--' Okay, alright, bro."

Sami Zayn and John Cena were in the middle of an instant classic when devastation struck. Brock Lesnar made a surprise return and attacked both stars.

The match ended in a no-contest after The Beast pulled the referee out of the ring. He then dished out vicious F5s to Sami and Cena to send out a message. Later, Lesnar issued a challenge to face John at Wrestlepalooza.

---

Please add an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcript and embed the video if you use the quotes from this article.