Welcome back to this epic series covering why WWE’s Bloodline storyline is the best story on television, today we kick off part 2 by diving into the two special ingredients that have made this story go from good to one of the greatest professional wrestling has ever told. Let’s talk about Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.
Sami Zayn made his name in the independent wrestling world under the name of “El Generico ” a pasty ginger mute luchador somehow from Mexico City, Mexico. Generico wowed audiences with his incredible in ring ability where he dazzled with a high tempo luchador style and an addicting chant, the “Ole ” song sung in many a soccer game. While working for promotions like Pro Wrestling Guerilla, Chikara, and Ring of Honor, Generico met a man by the name of Kevin Steen. Steen had grown up a pro wrestling fan. A native French Canadian, Steen learned English thanks to “Stone Cold ” Steve Austin and Monday Night RAW. These two would end up becoming fast friends. Two Canadians that were huge wrestling fans, fans of the same music, all that fun stuff that makes friends friends. They would travel the world together, wrestling at independent shows across the globe. They would also become bitter rivals as well.
They had a legendary battle at Ring of Honor Final Battle 2012 for the Ring Of Honor World Championship under a match titled “Ladder War ”. The match was described by many as the match of the decade at that point as they contested on ladders, tables, and chairs (Oh my!) and put each other through absolute hell. They put the chairs on the ladders then got thrown into the table that was on the ladder that was on a concrete floor, they got ladders that were twice as big as the other ladders. Then they took a medium ladder, laid it next to the big ladder, then took a small ladder and leaned it between the two ladders. Move over property brothers, you got some interior design competition. Then took another small ladder to put between the ladders so for those counting that is 4 ladders and two people in this ring. Steen then package piledrove Generico through the ladders and retained his Ring of Honor World Championship. It was an outstanding match that showed the potential of both men, and it wasn’t long before the big company came calling. In January of 2013 El Generico signed with the WWE and was told to take off the mask and go by a new name: Sami Zayn.
Zayn seemed to get in at the right place at the right time. Right when Zayn had developed who “Sami Zayn ” was, essentially a wholesome good guy that is the underdog personified. He came out to a fun ska song, danced around, and still had that incredible athletic move set you would not expect from a guy that looks like Zayn. Zayn would be put on WWE’s new developmental show “NXT ” created and booked by Triple H.
Ol Hunter at this time was a top level executive in WWE at this point wrestling less and less, and his grand creation was the WWE performance center and WWE NXT. NXT at this point was aired on Hulu but in February 2014 the WWE would change the game. Its own streaming service: The WWE Network. At this point Netflix and Hulu were the only game in town. Netflix had everything and Hulu had all the “Show” shows the next day after it aired on live tv. The WWE changed the game by creating their own streaming service that not only had every WWE, WCW, and ECW PPV ever made, but other territory wrestling shows from yesteryear and innovated the streaming service concept even more by offering their Live PPVs totally free on the Network. Along with this, NXT moved to the Network, and from there a population boom occurred. NXT caught like wildfire and a huge reason was Sami Zayn and his meteoric rise to the NXT Championship. He fought an epic best of 3 series against Cesaro and became the number one contender to the champion Adrian Neville. Neville would face Zayn for the championship at NXT R Evolution, a show that started with the debut of Kevin Owens, the man formerly known as Kevin Steen. See at this point I was so heavily invested in this show. NXT felt like punk rock but wrestling. This renegade show that pushed the envelope more than its counterparts RAW and Smackdown, a show that let the wrestlers hit and wrestle way tougher and stiffer, and really emphasized women’s wrestling as serious competitors rather than eye candy. All of this happening on a show owned by Vince McMahon became a fever dream. Triple H would be sent fruit baskets from Reddit and anointed “Papa H” by the internet for his genuinely incredible ability to book a wrestling show. He showed an emphasis on logical storytelling, character development, and making everything feel so real.
Sami Zayn: The Honorary Uce (Part 1)
Part 1 of an in-depth look at one of the MOST COMPELLING stories in wrestling today. Hope you enjoy!@SamiZayn @FightOwensFight @WWEUsos @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/5A9iv94Qqi— AMIR of Hybrid IV (@IR0N710) January 29, 2023
This was personified by Sami Zayn. Zayn became the underdog that could as he went from goody two shoes to a guy with some edge, he was still ska dancing to the ring though. He was endearing, you just had no choice but to love him. He finally had his chance in a 1 on 1 contest against Neville at R Evolution and his dream came true. He struck Neville with a Helluva kick and became the champion to an enormous ovation. Felt like Rudy doing the good football things in the creatively titled “Rudy”. Grown men cried. Kevin Owens would come out and embrace his best friend, a moment years in the making for these two, all the miles they traveled, laughs had, bodies broken, ladders broken, all leading up to this incredible moment. And then Kevin Owens had to reveal to the world how much of an asshole he is. He threw his best friend onto the ramp and powerbombed him onto the side edge of the ring. Just a dick move to do that. Owens would face Sami Zayn for the NXT championship, resulting in Zayn getting demolished by his once best friend. Owens won due to the ref stopping the match after Owens just kept powerbombing Zayn over and over, however Zayn did kick out of every pin attempt so that fighting spirit was always there. Zayn would face Owens one more time, this time competing with a recently separated shoulder when he ska’d too hard in his entrance in a match against John Cena. You never ska too hard.
Following that match both men would be elevated to the main roster and on Monday Night RAW. They would feud on and off again on the main roster, culminating in an epic match at WWE Battleground that saw Zayn finally get his victory over Owens. Following that both men would be separated for most of the time, every now and again interacting and showing hints of a future friendship. and Zayn would begin a change as well. Becoming a little bit of a sarcastic douche, even teaming up with Kevin Owens in 2018 to really double down on the douchebaggery. In 2019 Zayn started to become a bit of a conspiracy theorist while Owens became a good guy, even further messing with the dynamic of this relationship. This would begin the “Master Strategist” era of Sami Zayn. He premiered a conspiracy documentary about his career and the conspiracies against him, the event even had future WWE Hall of Famer Logan Paul attend! We saw Zayn dance, we saw him brush shoulders with the YouTube elite, and in 2022 Zayn would face Jackass legend Johnny Knoxville in a match that had absolutely no right being as incredible as it was. But the reason it was that damn good was because of Zayn. He made the whole match look like an incredible fusion of Jackass stunts and pro wrestling spectacle and it paid off tremendously. The night before, however, the show was main evented by Kevin Owens as he got to face the man that taught him English, Ol Stone Cold himself, in an epic match. The fact that the WWE had Owens face Austin, and Zayn face Knoxville, meant a tremendous amount to the two. It meant that the company trusted them with such high profile names. That kind of trust means job stability and more creative flexibility down the line, something Zayn and Owens would take advantage of in 2022. Shortly after Wrestlemania, Owens would take a break, and Zayn would feel the need to seek advice, and he sought the advice of the Tribal Chief. After months of deliberation (and a huge creative change as Vince McMahon was ousted from the company and Triple H took over), Zayn joined the Bloodline.
Stay tuned for part 3 as it’s time to revisit the epic events of this story.
