Sami Zayn Explains How He Ended Up As ‘Sami Zayn’ In NXT, Presented Different Categories Of Names

Before he was Sami Zayn in WWE NXT, Sami was El Generico on the independent scene.

In WWE, he shed the mask and took on a different name and persona, which isn’t uncommon when joining the promotion.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Sami was asked if there was any talk of him wearing a mask in NXT.

“I didn’t know when they signed me because I also knew, you know, well, you signed me for what you saw. So I’m assuming you liked what you saw, I don’t know what they wanted out of me. So there’s a lot to me, and there’s a lot of avenues you could take. So one was this masked type character. So I’ll clarify. Let me elaborate. But when they’re asking you to come up with names or whatever. I didn’t know what they wanted out of me, so I sort of had these categories, because again, I just didn’t know what they wanted out of me. I know I look like a redhead; I could look Irish or Sheamus’s cousin on TV if you wanted me to be Sheamus’s little cousin, I could be that. Maybe they want me for that. I’m also French Canadian. I’m also Arab, and there’s the Mexican stuff or the masked stuff. So I was presenting all these different categories of names, not just broad names,” he said.

Asked how he ended up with the name “Sami Zayn,” he replied, “So I think what I did see as a huge opportunity is to kind of be myself. A huge part of that is obviously my ethnicity and my religion, I guess, to an extent. Just like it’s a big part of who I am. Not that it’s a day-to-day thing, but it’s a big part of the concoction that has made me who I am. To be able to represent that in a way that has never really been represented was very attractive to me. Because as an Arab, you have heightened awareness of it. Growing up in the 80s, 90s, and especially in a post 9/11 world where the stereotypes and the racism and all that stuff is just crazy, and it’s normalized and it’s accepted, and it was sort of like the only way you saw your people represented in Western culture. I was a child of the West. My household was Arab and Muslim, but for all intents and purposes, I look like just some white kid. So, the idea of kind of smashing that boundary a little bit of being an Arab and not playing the caricature, especially the heel caricature of an Arab.”

The comparison of Muhammed Hassan was brought up, as he ended up being a heel caricature of an Arab.

Sami said, “Yeah, who wasn’t actually Arab himself, ironically. But just not playing into those stereotypes, not even reintroducing, but introducing a concept of like, hey, Arabs are just normal people. What is this groundbreaking idea!? That was very attractive to me. So I was putting out names that were like Sami Zayn. Sami’s an Arab name. I was almost named Sami. My mom almost named me that, she didn’t, and Zayn is an Arab name, but both of them are extremely Western-passing. People could pronounce them. Doesn’t trip people up. But I wanted my ethnicity kind of to be represented in the name, without going full-blown Kareem Abdul Aziz or something like that and they’re like, what? Not so disconnected. So that’s kind of how that name ended up sticking.”

Sami has embraced all sides of his character and backgrounds throughout his WWE career.

He will return to Saudi Arabia for WWE Crown Jewel when he takes on Roman Reigns for the Crown Jewel Championship.