Sami Zayn Knew His Match With Johnny Knoxville At WrestleMania 38 Would Be Special

Sami Zayn said that he knew in advance that he would have something special in his match with Johnny Knoxville at WrestleMania 38. Zayn battled the Jackass star at the 2022 PLE in an Anything Goes match, which featured a number of weapons and interference by Knoxville’s Jackass co-stars to help him get the win. The match has been polarizing among fans, with some decrying the silliness and others appreciating the entertainment value. Zayn has said in the past that it’s one of his favorites.

Zayn reflected on the match in his appearance on Insight With Chris Van Vliet. He noted that he knew it was going to be something memorable early on and revealed which spot hurt more than people might expect. You can see highlights below:

On When He Knew the Match Was Going To Be Special:

“Well, I kind of knew. So I’ll have these, this is gonna sound cocky for sure, but I’ll have these moments. Let’s say I’ve put something together and I’ve thought of it and I’ve reviewed it a bunch of times in my head, where I’m just like, oh my God, these people have no idea what’s about to hit them. Okay, I’m exaggerating. What I’m trying to say is, I’ll go, this is bulletproof, there’s no way this is not going to get them. But then there is self-doubt. So right up until the curtain, I would fluctuate between oh my god, even if you hate me, even if you hate wrestling, and you somehow got dragged to this show, this will get you. There’s no way around it.”

On Whether Knoxville Had Previous Wrestling Experience:

“No. [He’s done stunts] Yeah, he’s not a wrestler. He’s not an athlete. But he was perfect. I think he was just perfect. I mean, I hate him.”

On Still Hating Knoxville:

“It’s this gnawing thing that just doesn’t really go away. I don’t want to get into all that now, but he’s relentless. He really is. What I mean by he’s perfect is you can’t really replicate that match with [anyone else]. At that time, that match could only be Sami Zayn versus Johnny Knoxville. You couldn’t put two other people in there and have the same match. That’s kind of what I liked about it. All the things that happened. It’s easy to watch it and reduce it to just oh there was a bunch of weapons and stuff, but in fact it was just a wrestling match, and those gadgets, that’s his signature offense, because his signature offense is from the Jackass world. He doesn’t have wrestling moves. He has Jackass stunts. So the moves were replaced by the Jackass stunts, but they still serve the same function.”

On Which Spot Hurt More Than It Should Have:

“The table was crazy. That mousetrap table, that was a big one that really hurt. But that’s the one kind of sore spot because it almost gets reduced to a comedy match. Part of what I love about it is it had a little bit of everything. There are comedic elements, but there’s also some actual violence and some pretty serious bumps.”