Sami Zayn On Bringing Up AEW During His RAW 2019 ‘Electric Chair’ Segment
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Sami Zayn sought to deliver some unpredictability for WWE RAW in 2019 and did so by name-dropping a new rival in AEW.
Zayn spoke with Rick Ucchino of Sportskeeda ahead of this Sunday’s Elimination Chamber PPV and one of the topics at hand happened to be that somewhat unplanned moment in May 2018 as WWE introduced the “Electric Chair.” Sami explained that doing the soon to be one-off Q&A there were expectations that AEW was going to get brought up by a freewill fan.
“So it wasn’t entirely, entirely off the cuff but it was off the cuff to a certain degree, and the reaction was, uh, let’s say unfavorable (laughs) since the electric chair met its demise that very same week,” Sami said.
“So it was right on everybody’s mind. It was super, super fresh and I think they had just announced this TV deal. They had just announced that this wasn’t just going to be a pay-per-view. This is going to be a competitor and all this sort of stuff. And they tell me that we’re doing this segment where it’s legitimately, you know, unplanned questions and anybody could ask anything. So at the time this was the number one topic in the wrestling world. So you kind of expected to be asked about it.”
Those three letters ended up being uttered by Zayn on his own accord and that’s due to the segment feeling sterile.
“What they were going for was that it had a very risky, unpredictable feel to it… As I was out there, I was like, this doesn’t have these vibes, these questions are too sterile. So I felt like it was upon me, it was incumbent upon me, to sort of make it controversial. And the fact that we’re talking about it now, all this time later, you know I hate to say I was right, but I kind of think I was right to do it.”
Ultimately, Sami was a wee bit bummed that the “Electric Chair” didn’t continue sparking on a weekly basis.
“I shed a little tear just thinking about what the Electric Chair could have been. You know what I mean? Cause that could have been super exciting. Really unpredictable questions from the fans and you really don’t know what’s coming. Eh. Failed experiment, but what can you do?”
(Transcription credit should go to Rick Ucchino of Sportskeeda)
I had to do it. I had to get @SamiZayn's honest opinion about everyone's favorite shirt, and his reaction did not disappoint!
Just a sneak peak of the second half our conversation which is due out this weekend on the @SKWrestling_ YouTube Channel. pic.twitter.com/3yhYOdH6Tx
— Rick Ucchino (@RickUcchino) February 19, 2021
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