Sami Zayn Opens Up About ‘Damaging’ Loss To Drew McIntyre At WWE Royal Rumble, Felt His Underdog Story Was Burned Out After That
Sami Zayn spoke about the loss to Drew McIntyre.
Sam Roberts and Megan Morant welcomed the new Undisputed WWE Champion, Sami Zayn, onto the Raw Recap podcast.
One of the topics Zayn covered was his loss to Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Title at the 2026 Royal Rumble Premium Live Event in Saudi Arabia. Zayn said that the loss was the first time that his faith in winning the title was shaken.
“I mean, 100 percent but I’ll be honest, I didn’t lose the faith and I certainly didn’t lose the faith after the match in Montreal (against Roman Reigns). It was a heartbreaker, no doubt. But, I thought, this is the closest I’ve come, so I’ll just get closer and closer till I get there. The one that really did my head in a little bit was coming up short against Drew (McIntyre) this past January at the Royal Rumble, because after that one, that’s when I was already starting to feel — I felt like maybe I had missed my window, and I couldn’t give up faith but it was the first time my faith was shook… I knew I had the talent, I knew I had everything. I knew I was just as good as any of these guys: Drew, Roman (Reigns), Cody (Rhodes), Seth (Rollins) and the proof is you’ve seen me mix it up in the ring with all of them. You’ve seen my body of work. There’s no question in my mind, you know, that these are my peers, and that’s also what made it more maddening is why them and why not me? Why is it so close and I just can’t get my hands on it? And after losing at the Rumble, that’s where I think you saw me kind of losing it or crashing out backstage over the months — it’s because I think what was happening was maybe the realization was going on deep down that maybe I had missed that window, and I was starting to see the sea change with Trick (Williams), and the fans getting behind Trick and they kind of moved on from my story, and they were into Oba (Femi) and Je’Von (Evans) and Bron Breakker and there was this idea that, oh my God, it’s like their window is opening and mine might have closed, and I’m only saying this now, only kind of realizing because this is actually on my shoulders. But I think that’s a big reason why I was slipping. I was slipping, but, I’m really proud of myself for never changing, for staying true to my guns and I think the biggest thing is the way I won it. That’s a really big deal to me. I didn’t cheat, I didn’t knock out a referee. There was nothing nefarious about it. I rolled him up in a wrestling hold and I won, in the middle of the ring, just like I said 10 years ago, when I said, ‘I’m gonna win this the right way,’ and I did, and so I’m immensely proud of myself for that.”
He went on to add that he did not realize how damaging that loss was until he won the title at Night of Champions. Zayn felt his story about being the underdog who wins the big one had been burned out.
“I think I only pieced it together now once the weight of the world came off my shoulders and was replaced with the weight of this championship gold. That’s when I kind of realized how damaging that last loss at the Rumble was. Because I realized, oh no, I burnt this card. I can’t play this hand again. The cinderella story of the underdog who finally wins the big one, it’s been played now. I had it in Montreal, I had it here in Riyadh. You can’t ask them to come along a third time at that point. Because even in reality, it was actually like the ninth of 10th time, at that point. But, that story really getting to marinate and really being the crux of this story, the focal point of the story going into the match, you can’t tell that story again. Because, you know, they just won’t buy it again. They’ve already been on board and you know, you can only ask them to come on the train for so long and that’s why I mean what I say when I’m talking about the ride or dies because for as much as, you know, I like to pretend that it didn’t bother me at all. Some of the fans turning their backs or getting fed up with me or my story or whatever, yeah, it hurt, it hurt, and the fans that didn’t jump off, that means a lot to me. The ride-or-die fans that stayed, it means a lot to me, and there’s a part of me that my feelings are or were very hurt by these fans that are turning their backs on me. But at the same time, part of me kind of understood it because it’s like, how many times can I ask them to stay and come up short? That’s what I really think about it. That’s when I access what I call higher-plane Sami, when I think on a more deeper and spiritual level. But on the surface, I’m just like anyone else. I get my feelings hurt when I devote my entire life to trying to win for these people, and then half of them are jumping off board and going, oh, we’re done. That hurts man, that hurts. My whole thing is my connection with the fans. Some people, their thing is this or that or they’re cool or they’re — whatever — a counterculture. Everybody’s got their little thing. My thing was the fans and the connection of the fans. So, to lose half of them or whatever, man, I don’t know. I like to pretend I don’t care and I like to pretend like, ‘Oh, go ahead, boo if you wanna boo. Think I care? Got my ride or dies’ but man, I can’t sit here and pretend it doesn’t hurt. But, it hurts a little less now that I got this, you know?” Zayn smiled.
It is the first WWE World Title win of Zayn’s decade-plus with WWE.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Raw Recap with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.
