Sami Zayn says he is at the best point of his career heading into his match with Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel.
The Undisputed WWE Champion told Cathy Kelley in a Crown Jewel Countdown interview posted by WWE that Reigns has doubts going into Saturday, too.
“I know there’s that self-doubt because he’s human. He’s human. I don’t care if you’re the Tribal Chief. I don’t care how much success you’ve had. You’re still a human being. You cannot tell me that you’re going into the ring with a WWE Champion and there’s zero self-doubt. I know there’s self-doubt there,” Zayn said. “He can play it however he wants. I don’t care. I know there’s self-doubt. I’ll tell you, I am telling you there’s self-doubt, but there’s also a crazy amount of confidence. And I’m operating at a higher level now than I ever have been. So yes, absolutely, I think I can beat him.”
Zayn said the difference between him and Reigns is that he has always been open about his self-doubt.
“I think he tries to carry himself a certain way. I think he tries to project a certain dominance, which has worked very well for himself,” Zayn said. “I’m in the same position and I have that confidence. I have a crazy amount of self-confidence and all these people trying to step to me. I tell them right in their face, all these people that have come and talked this big game about how I might not even make it to Crown Jewel. Who’s standing here right now going into Crown Jewel? I will chew these people up. I will spit them out because that’s what I’ve done for 20 years.”
Sami Zayn: “No one in the history of this business has done more with less”
“The darkness that I have faced, any other man would’ve succumbed to it. Part of the reason why I am one of one is because anyone else would’ve succumbed to it. I chewed it up, spit it out, and I walked out with this on the other side,” Zayn said. “No one, no one in the history of this business has done more with less than I have. No one. And it’s not even close, okay? It’s not even close.”
He said some fans have turned on him because he doesn’t call himself the greatest.
“Maybe that’s what people respond to because the way some of these fans have turned their backs on me over the years, because I thought they would get it, but they don’t. They need to be spoonfed and told, ‘I’m the greatest.’ And then they go, ‘Oh yeah, I guess he’s the greatest.’ I don’t do that. It’s just not in my nature,” Zayn said. “I’m heart on my sleeve, but at the end of the day, I know how good I am. I know how good I am.”
Zayn also said the way he is still treated is unlike anything he has seen.
“Have you ever seen someone who has consistently delivered the mail, who has consistently delivered the goods for as long as they have, still get this kind of level of disrespect, still get doubted the way I’m getting doubted?” he said. “It’s all part of the Sami Zayn experience. The highs, the lows, the self-doubt, the overcoming the odds, it’s fine because I’ll do what I’ve always done and I’ll strike gold.”
Sami Zayn vs. Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel
Zayn faces World Heavyweight Champion Reigns in a champion vs. champion match at Crown Jewel this Saturday, November 7, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Zayn hit Reigns with a Helluva Kick to close Monday’s Raw in Brooklyn, after Reigns told him, “This is your final week on the island of relevancy.”
Zayn won the Undisputed WWE Championship for the second time when he beat CM Punk on the September 11 SmackDown in Mexico City. He was a member of The Bloodline as its Honorary Uce.
Crown Jewel streams live Saturday at 12 p.m. ET on the ESPN app with an ESPN Unlimited plan in the United States and on Netflix internationally.
