Sami Zayn Compares His and Finn Balor’s WWE Title Reigns Ahead of SummerSlam Match

Sami Zayn battles Finn Balor tonight at WWE SummerSlam for a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship, something Zayn admits he’s “not thrilled” about. The two will compete at tonight’s show for a shot at CM Punk, who retained his championship against Cody Rhodes on night one.

Zayn is the man who lost the title to Rhodes after a very brief run, and he spoke about having to fight for the #1 contendership in an interview with ESPN ahead of the match. He praised Balor and said that he sees a lot of similarity with Balor’s own experience of holding the Universal Championship for one day back in 2016 before an injury forced him to relinquish it. You can see highlights below:

On How Accepting He Is Of This Match:

“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.

“And you know, 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 now, he — whatever. I’m not gonna get into all that. 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 stake 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?”

On How He Puts That Behind Him to Focus On Balor:

“It’s just muscle memory, I don’t know how else to describe it. This has been the pattern of my career for a very, very long time. Work, work, work to get put in these positions. Catch a raw deal every now and again, and learn to just put your head down and you know, erase your memory real quick because the challenge in front of you is always gonna be a tough one.”

On Balor:

“I can’t say enough good things about him as a performer. And you know, he has a — he has his own journey too. I mean, he won it for a day. It’s not actually terribly dissimilar for me in some ways. He won it, held it for a day because of an injury, and that was it, and now he’s been trying to chase that and get back to that for ten years. And it’s similar to me in the sense that it felt like something that was within my grasp ten years ago, and I just have to keep beating my head against the wall to finally get there.

“So I think we’re in some ways, kind of in similar situations. I take nothing away from him, but again I just don’t feel like I should be in this position. I just held the championship about 20 days ago. I was the champion. This time three weeks ago, I was the champion. So to already be pushed out and already be put back in this position, it’s just very — it’s been hard. It’s a hard pill to swallow. But look, I’m good at this. I’m good at forgetting the past and swallowing the injustice for lack of a better word here, swallowing it and just taking it on the chin and getting ready for the challenge that lies ahead. And so, that’s what I’m doing now.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.