Sami Zayn On Fans Criticizing WWE Writers, How Becky Lynch Has Been Using Twitter, His New Mindset
As previously noted, WWE Monday Night RAW's Sami Zayn was recently a guest on Talk Is Jericho with pro wrestling great Chris Jericho. Among many other things, Zayn talked about WWE SmackDown Live's Beck Lynch and her recent rise in popularity. Additionally, Zayn talked about going vegan, adopting a new mindset, why WWE writers are not to blame for the perceived shortcomings of WWE, and whether he has been watching WWE programming while he has been away due to injury.
On the subject of Lynch's recent ascension in WWE, Zayn admitted that 'The Man' has used Twitter in a clever way to get herself over; however, Zayn does not want to cut people down with social media anymore. In Zayn estimation, if he rips someone on social media, even if they were mean spirited, he is only contributing to the problem.
"I noticed Becky Lynch, who has really blown up recently too, right?" Zayn began, "And she's using Twitter in a very witty way. She's a very witty person. And she's using it in a really cool way and she's getting herself really over. But I don't know if I would do it anymore, even if I was a heel. I wouldn't want to use it to cut people down and stuff." Zayn added, "but I'm like, 'do you know what? I'm contributing to a toxic culture, to a toxic swirl of s–t and I don't want to contribute to it anymore.'"
Interstingly, Zayn reported that he stopped eating meat because he had to confronted the reality of his own hypocrisy insofar as he disagreed with the shady and barbaric practices of the meat industry, yet continued to consume meat products. Astutely, Zayn observed that people's own hypocrisy causes them unhappiness by creating cognitive dissonance, an asymmetry between people's morality and actions.
"This is another huge thing in my life – I stopped eating meat," Zayn said. "And I don't preach about it. I just eventually had to confront myself with the reality that I was being a total hypocrite. And I'm not saying everyone who eats meat is a hypocrite. I ate meat my entire life, but I'm saying I confronted my own hypocrisy by saying, 'well, look. Obviously, I don't agree with the industrialization, how these animals are treated, blah, blah, blah, and I feel sorry for them. But then, I go home and I stuff [meat] in my [mouth]. And I'm like, 'whoa, okay. I'm a part of the problem.' And then I reached a point where I was like, 'I'm not playing ball anymore. I don't agree with these industries. I don't agree with how they do business. You're not getting my money.' And that's it. I feel way better because I think a lot of unhappiness, I'll put on my Sami Zayn amateur Canadian PhD in psychoanalysis hat on here, but I just think a lot of people, there is some unhappiness there because people aren't living in line with their values because it's a very hard thing to do to."
Zayn, who has seemed to have learned much about himself and the world around him during his stint on the injured list, said he is worried how his new mindset will mesh with the WWE culture.
"That's something I'm concerned about, yes," Zayn admitted. "Absolutely. Dude, you're so right and I've got to tell you it's very funny that you should ask me that because that [has] actually been one of the big [questions]. And this isn't me burying the company, but it's the culture of the company. It's the culture of showbiz and succeeding and just the concept of ambition and ego and it's all dressed up. We use very nice words to dress up some pretty ugly things. Like being ambitious, it's a good quality, but you can use that as an excuse to be an egotistical piece of garbage. Do whatever you've got to do, but justify it by saying, 'oh, that's just business.' So yeah, it's very funny because [Jericho has] been touching on something that I've been thinking about a lot."
In addition to worrying about how letting go of ego will factor into Zayn's WWE career, 'The Underdog From The Underground' is also concerned about slipping into the same routine or getting beaten down by the grind.
"One of the big things I've been working on in this time of reflection or introspection, whatever you want to call it, has been letting go of ego or not letting ego, egotism, sort of drive me, but I'm like, 'oh man, how is this going to serve me in this company?' [Jericho is] right. And I don't know. I really don't know. We'll see. I haven't overthought it, to be honest with you, because I have this other thing that I'm worried about, which is, 'once you go back, you just fall into the same trap' sort of." Zayn continued, "so I have two worries. One is how is letting go of ego going to serve me in getting ahead in my career in the WWE bubble. I don't really think it was a factor in my indie career as much. It was really just do your thing and talent takes you where it goes. WWE is a bit of a different animal. I haven't overthought it."
Zayn added, "you end up going back and your intentions are good at first, but then, 'oh, brother, we got eight minutes' and 'we just lost a [segment] – just do it, just do it.'"
According to Zayn WWE writers should not get the flack from fans they do because the WWE system is complicated and people out of the loop are not aware of the intricacies.
"Man, people don't know and you don't know unless you're there [in WWE]," Zayn explained. "Not to do with nothing, but I want to take this time to actually give the writers a little bit of a break because they get crapped on the most. People don't understand how it works there. It's not the writers, and it's not the agents, and it's not the talent. It just works a very specific way. And unless you're in it, you don't know, so it's very easy to sit at home and go, 'why are they pushing this person? Why are they doing this?' It's harder than you think. Cut everybody some slack. It's tricky."
When asked whether Zayn as watched WWE programming during his time away, he said he has watched once or twice and that he is getting the "bug" to perform again.
"Yeah, I've watched the product once or twice. Yeah, I did [watch Survivor Series] and the bug is coming back to perform and whatever and wrestle again a little bit. I shouldn't say I haven't missed it at all, blah, blah, blah, but I love performing. I'm a performer. Who knows again, if you want to keep peeling back the layers, [who knows] what damage in my life [happened], what lack of attention I got in my life when I was three years old that caused me to be the way I am. But I'm a performer by nature."
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Source: Talk Is Jericho