Sami Zayn Deflated By Backlash To Him Earning WWE WrestleMania 40 Match With Gunther

Sami Zayn will compete in a title match at WrestleMania 40, having won a Gauntlet Match on the March 11 episode of Raw for the right to challenge Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship at WWE's biggest show of the year.

The finish saw Zayn defeat Chad Gable and there was somewhat of a backlash to the booking decision as many fans want Gable to be the wrestler to finally defeat Gunther.

Booker T revealed following Raw that Zayn was disappointed by the backlash to his win and Sami, while admitting his surprise at Booker T making their private conversation public, has noted he did find the situation deflating.

"Well, I was a little surprised to read that. Because I basically bumped into Booker on the plane and we were just sitting next to each other. So, we're just talking. It's pretty weird to see that on the internet. All this to say, No, I was very happy with the performance, because he was talking about the performance itself, the match itself. I was like, 'Yeah, I was very pleased with the match. It's just unfortunate that it felt like the reaction to the win itself was a little split, if not a little more skewed towards Chad' because we did a great job of building Chad and he's done a great job of building himself," Zayn stated on the Superstar Crossover podcast.

"When you're a good guy or whatever, or bad guy, and you know where you're headed, you just want the full investment, right? You want the full scope of the audience's emotional investment. I felt like this was an interesting story because it splits the emotional investment in two. So, you're only getting 50% of the pie, right? That's just an interesting dynamic because it makes it more compelling," Zayn continued.

"For sure, as a guy whose job it is to rally the entire audience behind him. Which is what I sometimes feel like my job is as a good guy. I was a little let down that I felt like I couldn't get the entire audience to rally behind me. At least, that's not even entirely true. During the match itself, it feels like they're very happy and invested in the whole thing. But the online backlash the day after, just with people feeling a little disappointed for Chad, which is very understandable. It just was a little deflating, you know? But again, this is just something I was kind of articulating to him as to just kind of shoot the breeze on the plane. So I think maybe once it gets out online, it seems like a bigger deal than it is. That's all I was articulating to him."

Booker T recently attracted attention after he claimed on his podcast that he almost had an altercation with CM Punk at a recent taping of NXT. The claim reportedly fuelled frustration within WWE and the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion and Booker has since revealed he was just trying to be an entertainer.

H/T Fightful