Sami Zayn held the Undisputed WWE Championship for nine days. He has not been given a rematch, and he is not hiding how that sits.
Zayn faces Finn Balor tonight on Night 2 of SummerSlam in a No. 1 Contender’s match, and he told ESPN that being asked to qualify at all is the problem.
Well, I think anybody who would be in my shoes would not be thrilled and I’m not thrilled, obviously. I did something that very few people can lay claim to. I pinned Cody Rhodes in the middle of the ring, clean as a whistle to become WWE champion.
He stopped short of relitigating how the title left him.
And I just think it’s crazy that somehow, I’m not gonna get into the whole thing of how Punk was put into the position that he was put into. To get the championship off of me, that’s fine. Champion is him, whatever. I’m not gonna get into all that.
The grievance is about the queue.
But the fact that I don’t get a rematch, that Cody who I just beat is perfectly lined up to get this championship opportunity and I’m not. The way that both of these guys got their championship opportunity was extremely simple. It was extremely easy for them, and then when I just, state my claim, I’m put in a position where I have to earn it.
Go out there and earn it as if I haven’t been doing that already for the last, what, couple of decades, right? So, you know, it’s not the best feeling in the world. I’m used to it. So I take on the challenge headfirst because what else can I do?
The history behind it is real. Zayn won the title at Night of Champions in Riyadh on June 27, countering a Cross Rhodes into a rollup on Rhodes in a triple threat that also involved Gunther. It was his first world championship in more than a decade with the company and made him a Grand Slam Champion.
Nine days later, Punk beat him for it on Raw in Chicago. Rhodes had been scheduled for that rematch but was not cleared after a Gunther attack, and Punk returned from a three-month absence to take his place.
One part of Zayn’s complaint has already aged. Rhodes got his shot last night and lost, with Randy Orton returning to hit him with an RKO before Punk retained.
