Sami Zyan had an amazing run as Intercontinental Champion and entertained most with his heel persona. As a champion he faced top superstars including AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Big E and Bobby Lashley. He lost his Intercontinental Title to Big E on last Smackdown of 2020.
In a recent interview with Ryan Satin of FOX Sports, Sami Zyan was asked about his thoughts on his run as Intercontinental Champion. Then, Sami said that it’s was some of his best work in his career and really proud of doing “The Great Liberator” stuff.
Here what Smai Zyan said about his IC Title run:
“Oh, yeah, thrilled. I think that’s—I really think it’s some of the best work I’ve ever done. Certainly from a character perspective, and definitely as a bad guy, a heel. Cause I was a good guy forever and then all of a sudden to be doing this. I was really, really proud of the work I did from, really, maybe August of 2019 when I first started aligning with Shinsuke and I first started calling myself “The Great Liberator” and all that stuff.”
Sami Zyan rarely defended his Intercontinental Championship on Smackdown during his 89-day reign as Champion and spent most of his times at live events. The former Intercontinental Champion said that some of his favourite work is all on live events and he’s very proud of that.
“Sadly, some of my favorite work from that time period is all on live events, I don’t think it’ll ever see the light of day. But, I was so proud of so much of that stuff we were doing there.”
During the interview, Sami Zyan also revealed the inspiration for his rugged look as a heel in WWE. He said that he took the inspiration from Bill Murray’s character in Kingpin movie and Bret Hart. Here what Sami Zyan said:
“I had an inspiration early on from, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie, Kingpin. Bill Murray’s character in Kingpin and the big game when his hair starts going little by little. That was a bit of an inspiration for me. I wanted to have that look. Or Bret Hart from a more practical point of view, where he’d come out looking one way, but then as the match progressed he looked a different way.”
The return of Sami Zayn last year and how his character has developed along the way | 1-on-1 with Ryan Satin https://t.co/HcZB73DX9D via @WWEonFOX
— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) February 19, 2021
