At WWE Night of Champions 2026, Sami Zayn shocked the world when he defeated Cody Rhodes and Gunther to win the WWE Championship. On one hand, Zayn has challenged for world titles numerous times, is a former US and Intercontinental Champion, and has been booked around WWE’s top ten guys for much of the last three years.
On the other hand, with names like Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Oba Femi, Rhodes, and Gunther around, it was difficult to imagine Zayn winning the big one. Indeed, it seemed like his run against Roman Reigns in 2023 marked his best shot if it were ever going to happen.
Besides being an intuitive underdog—perhaps the least likely of the three men in the Night of Champions main event to walk out champ—there were a number of other factors that made Zayn’s big win especially unlikely.
Sami Zayn Is The First Man To Win His First WWE Championship Without Another World Title Reign Or Royal Rumble Victory In Over 7 Years
For better or worse, the last decade has seen WWE largely stabilize at the top of the card, with work horse champions Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles each enjoying reigns, but otherwise, perennial top guys like Roman Reigns, John Cena, and Cody Rhodes positioned as top champions.
Indeed, it’s a fascinating factoid that, since 2019, no single wrestler has won the WWE Championship for the first time without having already been a world champ in WWE before or winning the Royal Rumble to get there (and even then, only Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre pulled it off).
The last man to accomplish what Zayn did was Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania 35 over seven years ago.
Sami Zayn Did Not Have The Kind Of Momentum Kofi Kingston Did In 2019
In some ways, Kofi Kingston was an even longer shot to win a WWE Championship than Sami Zayn. The New Day co-founder had had an even longer decade-plus run on the WWE main roster without winning a world title and even three months out, the idea of him working a PLE singles bout for the WWE Championship—let alone winning—felt pretty laughable.
The difference, however, is that by virtue of a career-changing gauntlet match run on SmackDown and further cementing a groundswell of support at Elimination Chamber, Kingston accumulated truly sensational momentum. By WrestleMania 35, it still felt like a huge deal for Kingston to win the big one, but also increasingly like an inevitable ending to a feel-good story.
Zayn is another long-time roster member, but as recently as two months ago at WrestleMania 42, he found himself in an uncomfortable spot of fans booing him out of the building as United States Championship. While his history with Cody Rhodes afforded him a gateway to the world title picture, he still felt like a true longshot right up until he actually scored the pin over The American Nightmare at Night of Champions.
Indeed, to find another instance of someone coming as far or even further “out of nowhere” to capture the WWE Championship, one would have to peer back over a decade to Jinder Mahal shocking Randy Orton en route to an improbable half-year run on top.
Sami Zayn May Well Be The Most Telegraphed Transitional Champion In Recent Memory
If Sami Zayn winning the WWE Championship proved anything, it’s that there are no certainties in WWE booking. Nonetheless, with the benefit of hindsight, Oba Femi winning King of the Ring and a SummerSlam world title shot and Zayn winning the belt on the same night seems to point in a very clear direction forward with Femi taking the title off the underdog champ.
Sure, question marks remain around Brock Lesnar, who beat Femi at Backlash, whose retirement seems imminent, and who has claimed Minneapolis—the site of SummerSlam 2026—as his hometown for most of his pro wrestling career.
Many predicted Femi would beat Lesnar in a retirement match at The Biggest Party of the Summer. But now what? Maybe Femi both retires Lesnar and captures his first WWE Championship across the two-night event. Maybe Lesnar stays gone until a less predictable return date. Maybe he costs Femi the match in his first world title bid? Or maybe The Beast Incarnate takes the title off Zayn at Saturday Night’s Main Event or on an episode of SmackDown, such that he walks into his last match as defending champ?
There are many possibilities. The simplest read, though, is that, one way or another, WWE’s surest new main event prospect in years takes the top title at the second biggest event on the calendar.
In the process, WWE protects Cody Rhodes by not absorbing what will likely be a dominant performance at the hands of The Ruler, besides saving a proper title showdown between the two for later on—perhaps WrestleMania. That’s not to mention not booking themselves into a corner with Femi vs. Roman Reigns—a dream match, but one there’s no point in rushing any sooner than Crown Jewel might force a champion vs. champion bout.
What Sami Zayn Winning The WWE Championship Represents
Even if Sami Zayn is a short-term, transitional champion, he has still rewritten history. He has departed the ranks of top WWE talents to never win the big one. Indeed, Zayn was the only man in twenty-six years to win a WrestleMania main event but never win a world title, but now leaves Mr. T and Lawrence Taylor in his dust as the only members of that club.
More so than reshaping Zayn’s own legacy, though this world title victory reintroduces a sense of unpredictability to the WWE main event picture. While Triple H deserves credit for booking long-reigning champs in ways that add credibility to the top prizes in the company, Zayn’s victory reinvigorates a sense that anyone might wind up on top and there’s not necessarily such a thing as a skippable, foregone conclusion PLE main event or title defense.
Time will tell how wrestling fans remember Sami Zayn’s WWE Championship reign. His title win itself is a landmark moment, though, for the man, the title, and the company alike. Surprises can still happen, and WWE just might surprise us again with what happens next at the top of the card.