Sami Zayn Admits He Could Have Defeated Roman Reigns For The WWE Title

Sami Zayn reflects on whether he should have defeated Roman Reigns in 2023.© Image via : Instagram/@wwedeutschland

Sami Zayn says people had a fair argument that he should have beaten Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber 2023, even though WWE went another way. The 42-year-old talked about the match on Insight with Chris Van Vliet and explained why the call wasn't as simple as it looks now. Zayn had been part of the Bloodline before he turned on Reigns, and that led to their huge main event in his hometown of Montreal. He lost that night. Today he's the Undisputed WWE Champion, and he can look back from a very different spot.

Sami Zayn Believes He Had a Strong Case to Defeat Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber 2023

He didn't wave the idea away. “At the time, I thought there was a case to be made for it,” Zayn said. He also pointed to what WWE was building at the time, especially Cody Rhodes' rise going into WrestleMania, and said those choices shaped what came later.

In his words, “I don't think it's ludicrous to say I should have,” and “If you were watching at that time, I think anybody could have made that argument.”

But Zayn wasn't saying a win would have worked out better. “Could, should, would- would it have worked? I think so. But who's to say?”

Sami Zayn Also Looks Back on His Unexpected Run With Roman Reigns and the Bloodline

For anyone who needs the reminder, the match was on February 18, 2023 at the Bell Centre. Zayn had turned on Reigns at the Royal Rumble by hitting him with a chair, and the Montreal crowd was fully behind him.

The finish came when Jey Uso got involved and Zayn accidentally took him out, which gave Reigns the opening for a spear. After the bell, Reigns and Jimmy Uso kept attacking until Kevin Owens ran in for the save. Reigns then went on to face Rhodes at WrestleMania 39.

Zayn also talked about how his Bloodline run got so much bigger than he expected. He said his plan at first was more to stay on the outside of the group, but the story kept growing in a natural way.

“Well, that's kind of what makes it work from the jump. That was in the conception of the idea; it's so ridiculous, that's part of the appeal of it,” he said. That unplanned growth, in his view, is a big part of why the dynamic worked.

His position has changed a lot since then. Zayn won the Undisputed WWE Championship for the first time at Night of Champions in Riyadh on June 27, when he beat Rhodes and Gunther in a triple threat. It was also his first world title in WWE.

Now he gets Reigns again, on November 7 at Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It's a champion versus champion match for the Men's Crown Jewel Championship, with Zayn holding the Undisputed title and Reigns the World Heavyweight Championship.