Sami Zayn described his championship win at Night of Champions as a success regardless of how long his title reign lasts.
The new Undisputed WWE Champion was on ESPN New York with Peter Rosenberg & Don Hahn after defeating Cody Rhodes and Gunther last Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Many have speculated this could end up being a short title reign, and Rosenberg asked about whether a quick run with the title would be considered a disappointment or if he’s just happy he made it to this point.
Both things are true at the same time. If you did an interview with me two weeks ago, before I won the championship, and you asked me, ‘Would you feel good about your career if you never won a championship?’ The answer would be ‘Yes’. Because I’ve had what I’ve considered to be a brilliant career, and there are people that I think have won the world championship and the WWE championship many times over that never got to tell the type of stories that I’ve gotten to tell or maybe evoke some of the emotions that I’ve got to evoke or have the type of matches that I’ve had. So, I consider my career a success unto itself, whether it ended tomorrow or if it ended two weeks ago before I ever won this championship.
Now, does that mean I didn’t want the championship? No, of course I wanted it. You’re allowed to be content. I think that’s having perspective. You’re allowed to look at your career and enjoy it and still want a little bit more. If this championship reign lasted a year, ‘Oh man, I wish it was thirteen months, I wish it was fourteen months’, you’re always aspiring to more, and if I lose this in two months or three months or whatever, a week, two weeks, whatever, it doesn’t even matter. Whatever it is, I’ll be like, ‘Ah, I wish I had a little more time’ or I wish I’d win it again, like, there are always going to be things you strive for but at the end of the day, I did something that I wouldn’t even call a dream, I would have called it a fantasy if you asked me when I was thirteen or fourteen years old – not even something you could dream of in a meaningful way.
A number one contender’s match was taped on Monday between Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso to air on tonight’s Friday Night SmackDown. The winner will challenge Zayn for the Undisputed WWE title this Monday on Raw from the Allstate Arena.
