| Sami Zayn | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Ring Name(s): |
El Generico Rami Sebei Sami Zayn (current) |
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Height: |
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
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Weight: |
193 lbs (88 kg) |
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Born: |
July 29th, 1984 Hill Valley, Quebec, Canada |
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Resides: |
Montreal, Canada |
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Billed From: |
Montreal, Canada |
Rami Sebei (born July 29th, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler of Syrian descent currently signed to WWE, where he performs on its Smackdown brand under the ring name "Sami Zayn."
WWE Career[]
Debut (2013-2014)[]
On September 11th, 2013, it was announced that Sebei had signed a contract with WWE's Smackdown brand. He is expected to debut on the September 13th edition of Smackdown. Sami debuted interrupting fellow NXT winner Wade Barrett in a critically acclaimed match in which Sami lost via countout after Barrett countered Sami's suicide dive attempt into a Bullhammer.
The following week on Smackdown Sami scored his first major victory since debuting on the main roster, by defeating former three time World Champion Mark Henry via pinfall. From there on, Sami Zayn competed infrequently in dark matches.
Chasing the United States Championship (2014)[]
On the April 11th, 2014 edition of Smackdown, Sami Zayn won his first televised match in months against Damien Sandow, who lost his US title to Bad News Barrett the previous Monday on Raw. Zayn then cut a promo about how, since he beat the former US Champion, he should be part of the US title match at Extreme Rules 2014. This was granted, and Sami Zayn is set to face Bad News Barrett and Damien Sandow at the event in a triple threat match for the US title.
Various Feuds[]
Upon returning to the WWE in 2016, Sami Zayn would feud and team with Kevin Owens, would feud with Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley and Adrian Neville, earning high praise from fans and critics, however, he was held back by constant shoulder injuries that he had suffered in NXT in 2015, that would prevent him from receiving a proper push. However in the leadup to the 2016 Draft, he would form a team with Shinsuke Nakamura known as the Artist Collective, and they would win the newly-created WWE Tag Team Championship with Nakamura pinning Sheamus. The pair would float between the brands defending the tag titles for four months before dropping the titles to the New Day in a Ladder match at the Royal Rumble. In the match, Zayn would land back first onto a ladder, damaging his shoulder to the point he would need multiple surgeries. As such, he missed nearly an entire year of programming.
In 2018, Nakamura, who had turned heel, and just lost his WWE Championship Sami demanded Nakamura see how far he'd fallen since being in the Artist Collective, Nakamura responded by hitting Sami with a low blow. Over the following weeks the two would attack each other, leading to a no-contest Elimination Chamber, and Sting demanded the two settle things at WrestleMania that year in a steel cage, in which Nakamura won. Following his loss to Nakamura, Zayn would move into a manager's position due to his nagging injuries. He would offer his services to a wide variety of stars across both shows, citing that he had earned his "Manager's License".
Sami would be cleared to return to the ring by 2019, but he decided to remain a manager for the time being, stating he didn't want to get back into ring shape, just to break his shoulder again, but he was coaxed out of retirement upon seeing how well Daniel Bryan was doing since coming out of retirement himself.
In 2020, Sami made a shock return in the Royal Rumble, being eliminated by Brock Lesnar, and he would announce he signed an exclusive contract with Smackdown, and would begin chasing the Intercontinental Championship.