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Sami Zayn Weighs In On Whether He’d Be Disappointed With Short WWE Title Reign

July 2, 2026 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
WWE Night of Champions 2026 - Sami Zayn Wins Title Image Credit: WWE

Sami Zayn says that if his Undisputed WWE Title reign ended quickly, he would be of two minds about it. Zayn won the title less than a week ago, defeating Cody Rhodes and Gunther at Night of Champions.

Zayn was asked during his appearance on ESPN New York about his hopes for his title reign. He was asked if he would be disappointed if the title reign comes to an end quicker than he hopes. You can see the highlights below:

On If He’d Be Disappointed With a Short Reign Or Happy With What He had:

“I’d say a bit of both, both things are true at the same time. So I have — even prior, if you did an
interview with me two weeks ago before I’d won the championship and you asked me, ‘Would you feel good about your career if you never won the championship?’ The answer would be ‘Yes.’ Because I’ve had what I consider to be a brilliant career. And there are people that I think have won the World Championship and the WWE Championship many, many times over that still never got to tell the type of stories that I’ve gotten to tell, or have maybe evoked some of the emotions that I’ve got to emote, or have the type of matches that I’ve had. So, I consider my career a success onto itself if it ended tomorrow, or if it ended two weeks ago before I ever won this championship.

“Now, does that mean I didn’t want the championship? No, of course I wanted it. So you know, you’re allowed to be content. I think that’s having perspective. Like, you’re allowed to look at your career and enjoy it and still want a little bit more. So, if this championship reign lasted a year, I’d want to like, ‘Man, wish it was 13 months,’ you know? ‘Wish it was 14 months.’ You’re always aspiring to more. And if I lose this in two months or three months or whatever, a week, two week? It doesn’t even matter. Whatever it is, I’ll be like, ‘I wish I had a little more time’ or, ‘I wish I win it again.’ There’s always going to be things you strive for.”

On Accomplishing His Goal:

“At the end of the day, I did something that I wouldn’t even call it a dream,” Zayn said. “I would have called it a fantasy if you asked me when I was 13 or 14 years old, a fantasy. Not even something you could actually dream of in a meaningful way whereby you’re setting attainable goals for yourself because it’s something you can visualize it. It was so unfathomable that it was more fantastical and more of a fantasy than anything and I’ve done it. So that you can never take away from me if my career ends today, tomorrow, a week from now. If the title reign ends a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, it doesn’t matter to me. I did it. It’s incredible.

“But that doesn’t mean I won’t want more, you know? That’s just the nature of the beast when you’re — I think you need to have that kind of drive to get to this point to begin with.”

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

article topics :

Sami Zayn, Jeremy Thomas