Whenever there is celebrity involvement in professional wrestling especially when said celebrity will be participating in a match, they need not only the right opponent to carry them and make it work, but said celebrity needs to put in the effort as well. Going into Wrestlemania this year there are two matches that will be featuring celebrities one with the Miz teaming with social media celebrity, Logan Paul to take on the Mysterios and the other high-profile celebrity match is Sami Zayn taking on reality TV star, Johnny Knoxville. Now as I have said before in my articles, I will be completely honest with my audience, I have never watched a single social media video of Logan Paul or any episode or movie of Jackass with Johnny Knoxville from what I can recall outside of clips here or there. I knew who both men were, but when I heard they were going to be in matches at Wrestlemania it really didn’t excite me as a fan. However, since that time it appears that both Logan and Johnny are putting in the effort, so they might actually be able to pull off something good.
Sami Zayn is someone that I knew instantly the first time I saw him face Cesaro in NXT, that this guy is special. It made me look into his pre-WWE run matches, which made me an even bigger fan of him. For years, Sami was underrated and underutilized despite how much the fans cheered for the “Underdog from the Underground”. At one time, he was the heart and soul of the Black and Gold brand as the ultimate babyface. Outside of his feuds with Kevin Owens over the years in NXT/WWE reigniting his ROH/PWG feud with his best friend outside of the ring, Sami’s WWE run was less than encouraging to Sami or his fans. As Sami was frequently used to get others over, which is certainly one of his many skills making his opponents look good in the ring.
From his days on the independents as the masked luchadore, El Generico to his NXT/WWE run as the unmasked Sami Zayn, he spent from 2002 to 2017, as the consummate babyface. It appeared that Sami would be a babyface his whole career, like HOFamer, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. However, in 2017, he would turn heel teaming with his longtime rival and real-life friend, Kevin Owens. The two are former ROH Tag Team Champions together, but hadn’t tagged since Owens turned on him in 2009 setting off one of the greatest rivalries in wrestling history.
It was during this time as a heel from 2017-2019, that Sami is convinced made WWE management in particular, Vince McMahon, began viewing him in a new light as someone that could be special and not just a good hand to get others over. As Zayn, detailed in an interview:
“You never know which segment is going to open their eyes. I think I was already doing pretty good work in the ring and had established myself as more than competent in the ring and holding my own on the microphone as a good guy, and especially, doing really good work as a bad guy. But then there was one day where I was a guest referee for Kevin [Owens] vs. Seth [Rollins]. I was just doing me. When I got back, they were all doubled over. That’s what I think that inspired the idea for me to be a mouthpiece for Shinsuke [Nakamura]. I came back and Vince is like, ‘You have the gift of gab.’ I wasn’t even cutting a promo, I was just being a ref, but they just started seeing me in a new light of, ‘This guy, he can be so much. He can do so much for other people.’ I think they saw a broader vision for me in that moment. Someone who can be a manager even 10-15 years down the road. They just started seeing me in that different light. There was a new trust.
I’m one of the luckier guys. It took a while for my ideas to start getting through. Sometimes they just don’t get through. I just started getting lucky out of nowhere and because stuff was working and I had a good relationship with writers, I’m very lucky. I can’t complain as much as other guys when it comes to pitching things and getting them. I have gotten away with a lot more than most, so I don’t think I’m in a position to complain about that.”
It is often said the best way to connect to the audience is if the audience believes the character that you are presenting is one that you are fully committed to and the closer that character is to your real personality the better. I believe it was Stone Cold that used to say the Texas Rattlesnake character was his real personality but dialed up to 11. The same could said about a lot of the legends of the past and top stars of today. In Sami’s case he is not playing the standard bad guy heel, but instead someone that believes everyone is out to get him in a massive conspiracy, complains a lot and makes constant excuses making him annoying. Being annoying is actually something Sami himself has been accused of according to Sami himself in this interview. Sami states in the interview”
“WWE made me aware of some of my own actions,” Sami said. “I came in and the big mantra was perception is reality. Even though I was 28 when I got there, I don’t think I was a fully mature person in some ways.
“I don’t think I was fully aware of…I had my interpretation of what I thought I was but then there was, ‘oh wait people who didn’t agree with that assessment,'” he continued.
“I see myself one way and other people are seeing me in a very different way and it was astounding a little bit because it made me a lot more aware of how my actions are perceived by people who are not me.”
As Sami took his own “annoying” personality traits, he decided to use his newfound knowledge to curate an annoying heel and dialed it up to 11. Vince McMahon liked what he was seeing from Sami and as he himself is arguably the greatest heel character of all time, decided to offer Sami some advice. As Sami detailed in this interview it seems like such a minor thing, but it paid off:
“My interactions with Vince have been a little more limited because I haven’t been in as many prominent storylines. Now, this is something that I feel like he has sunk his teeth into…He didn’t even get into detail. Some of it he would just say smile out there. I’m like really? Smile?…But if you are smiling, it is so much more obnoxious and so much more dislikeable. It is such a simple thing.”
As Sami’s heel run was catching on as the heel the fans loved to boo, he became more prominently featured on WWE TV and PPV including IC title reigns. Sami has proven over the last 9 years as part of the WWE and his overall 20-year career, he is reliable, safe performer that knows how to get himself and his opponents over regardless as a face or a heel. Sami is truly one of the all-time great performers of the modern era and one of the best ever. So, trusting Sami with a high-profile celebrity match at WWE’s biggest show of the year seems like a logical safe choice for the company.
The publicity will be great for the company and help get Sami’s name out there to a wider audience that may not follow wrestling but are fans of Johnny Knoxville. The build for this match started when Knoxville announced he was entering the Royal Rumble match in January. I’ll admit I was one of the fans that went…Really? Why? That is a slot a deserving wrestler could have had but knowing now what it was setting up it was a smart move by WWE. As Sami eliminated Knoxville from the Rumble, it was not the end of the feud that started leading into the Rumble with Knoxville and Sami trading jabs on the mic leading into the show.
Post Rumble, Sami would regain the IC Championship, but this would be a very short-lived run as Knoxville would continue to be a pest to Sami including helping Ricochet take the IC title from Sami. This was the final stray for Sami who demanded to face Knoxville at Wrestlemania, which Johnny quickly accepted showing that he doesn’t fear Sami, after all the things Johnny did to himself or had done to him on Jackass, he doesn’t fear bodily harm. Sami in attempt to prank the king of pranks, began to text and stalk the reality tv star including showing up and being thrown out of the Jackass movie premiere.
Knoxville was not entertained by this amateur prankster, so in the ultimate revenge he had a plane fly over LA with a banner instructing fans to text and call Sami Zayn’s cell number, which was covered by TMZ. I’m sure this is a WWE provided phone for Sami to use as a part of this angle but the engagement that it is getting is absolutely tremendous for Sami and WWE leading into Wrestlemania. The amounts of calls and texts is just insane, and Sami is playing the man being harassed and losing his mind to absolute perfection.
From fans sending multiple texts, calling him and facetiming him repeatedly, shows that fans are having a lot of fun playing along with this prank. It is clear that Sami is too by responding while in his tub to a facetime or sharing that his number was written in a bathroom stall and posting about it on social media. Sami is being driven to madness and Sami is becoming more and more unhinged. Deep down we know Sami is loving how well this is all going and I’m sure WWE is as well. This prank was a tremendous move to garner fan interest and participation in an angle like never before leading into Wrestlemania and Sami was the perfect person and character to make this both fun and entertaining for everyone involved. I for one am looking forward to seeing what these guys are able to pull off at the show, I don’t expect a 5-star classic, but it is not intended to be. It is intended to be a fun and entertaining match and garner huge publicity. Knowing Sami’s history he will likely be able to carry Knoxville to an entertaining match.
Photo Credits – WWE, DigitalSpy.com, Bleacher Report, ROH, Sami Zayn’s Instagram and TheWrestlingNerd’s Instagram
