Sami Zayn is pushing back on the idea that he has completed a full heel turn, insisting that his current character shift is more nuanced than that and that the story still has room to develop in several directions.
Speaking with The Toronto Sun, Zayn was asked about his perceived turn and offered a more complicated picture of where he actually sees himself in the story.
“I’ll disagree with your statement that I fully turned heel here. I don’t think I have. I think I’m trying to play this one a little different because this one is kind of different. We’re kind of riding these reactions, which are different week to week. I had this idea for a slight character shift that would be a little outside the box that would split the audience a little bit. Sometimes things just don’t work out exactly how you envision it, and sometimes you think you’re gonna be somewhere on the timeline and you’re not. Maybe I’m being a little vague here about it, but all this to say I still think there’s ways to go and it can still go in a number of different ways, which I find very interesting and kind of refreshing. Although to be fair, if you kick a mannequin Gingerbread Man below the belt, that might upset people because people want to have fun,” Zayn said.
Zayn is set to challenge Trick Williams for the United States Championship at Backlash this Saturday in Tampa, Florida. The program has seen Zayn adopt a more calculating, aggressive edge in recent weeks, while still generating mixed reactions from audiences with a long history of rooting for him.
