The WWE has announced that they are addressing Sami Zayn’s absence from WWE programming for a few weeks and hasn’t wrestled since he beat Daniel Bryan for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 36. The situation is expected to be resolved at this week’s Smackdown (5/15).
While his reasons for remaining off WWE programming may be reasonable and understandable, the fact he has a major title and isn’t showing up with it is something that can’t be ignored much longer.
Missing in action
It’s reasonable to expect people to not want to travel or work during the coronavirus shutdown, especially if there’s an underlying issue that could make it more dangerous like Roman Reigns’ previous bouts with leukemia. Even though Reigns has since claimed he’s doing it for his children, it can’t be far from his mind and that makes sense. The problem is, aside for tweeting he had oral surgery last month, he’s kept relatively quiet on it aside from posting his political stance.
And there is the rub.
There’s nothing wrong with him making a statement and taking a stand, but when he has an important title and does it? That’s a problem.
There’s also been reported that he enjoys making the backstage and creative crews’ lives difficult for whatever reason. How true this is is anyone’s guess. But it’s made some headlines.
A handful backstage
These reports came from ringsidenews.com, and they say he has people on his side that want to push him and make him a big star despite him being a “problem talent.”
It’s believed that he likes to rile everyone up, and this has reportedly made it a Talent Relations (sounds like human resources) issue.
If he’s really causing trouble backstage for whatever reason, he’s not going to be Intercontinental Champion for long. He’s a great talent. He’s great on the mic and can perform in the ring, but if the headaches he causes are worse than the positives he brings, he may soon be on the outs.
Possible outcomes
While the WWE and Zayn have remained tight-lipped about this, it’s believed that either there’ll be a new Intercontinental Champion by this weekend or plans will be in place to establish a new one.
Of course, the belief is if Zayn shows up he may be able to keep the championship, although he’ll most likely be on a short leach going forward if he does convince everyone he should remain champion.
It’s important to note that any reasons listed here or elsewhere should be considered speculation until Zayn or the WWE says something. There could easily be other things going on that we have no way of knowing about.
However it works out, we’d like to see Zayn return to WWE programming with his stable of Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. With any luck, things will be worked out and we’ll continue to have him as the Intercontinental Champion. He’s got the skills to be one of the greats.
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