WWE presents Elimination Chamber at the Bell Center on Saturday, the final pre-mass gathering that is WrestleMania. Montreal’s Sami Zayn will compete in the Grand Final against Roman Reigns, who will be there on his 903rd day as WWE Champion – a good indication of the value he is given in this scripted universe where the Champion is at the controls is most profitable.
The metropolis has hosted television shows, but this is the first time since September 2009 that WWE has hosted a major event there in the way that was once bought a la carte before online streaming platforms changed the game.
And we trust a Quebecer for the main fight of the night. Compiling the names of the participants in the finals of the only three major events WWE has presented at the Bell Center, we see that Sami Zayn joins the cream of sports-entertainment: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels in 1997, Dwayne The Rock Johnson vs. Hulk Hogan in 2003 and CM Punk vs. The Undertaker in 2009.
It is truly the consecration for Sami Zayn, agrees author and historian of the Quebec struggle Patric Laprade. We’ve talked a lot about Kevin Owens over the past few years, maybe a little more than Sami. He was best used in storylines – he was universal champion. But this week it’s Sami Zayn, between the invitation to the Canadian game and the finals of the Elimination Chamber. Everyone in Quebec discovers Sami Zayn and learns there’s another Quebecer in WWE.
Zayn’s presence in the finals is not a free reward or candy offered to local fans. The Montrealer is at the center of what Laprade calls the most talked-about story in WWE in years.
Last spring, Zayn started sneaking around in a group made up of Reigns and his cousins, the Usos, called the Bloodline. In the end, Zayn won her trust, but since we’re talking professional wrestling here, the camaraderie is bound to erupt violently one day.
In WWE Stories, Sami Zayn (left) had to hit Roman Reigns (center) with a chair to protect his friend Kevin Owens (not pictured).
Photo: Joe Camporeale – USA Today Sports
When Zayn refused to take part in an all-out Bloodline assault on lifelong friend — and sometimes foe — Kevin Owens last month, Reigns couldn’t take it. And here we are in Montreal for an inevitable shock, both for the thread of the story and for the accounting data.
If we consult the specialized site Wrestlenomics, which compiles wrestling ratings on American television, we can see two things: since the spring, the program with which Sami Zayn is associated has attracted a large and increasingly younger audience, and the segments in which it seems, especially in the last few weeks, are systematically the most popular, especially in the 18-49 age group that the sponsors care so much about.
Laprade emphasizes that it was not planned that it would take so long. And it was Sami’s work that clicked so much with the crowd. […] All were good but Sami was the type that didn’t fit into the story and he managed to turn what was temporary into a long story, right up to the ending of a big event.
“We knew he was a good wrestler. But maybe people didn’t know what a good comedian he was, someone who could take a script from point A to point B.”
— A quote from Patric Laprade, author and historian of Quebec wrestling
The ratings are all the more impressive given that WWE has been in the spotlight in the business press for several bad reasons.
Vince McMahon began leading WWE in 1982.
Photo: Getty Images / Ethan Miller
First, there’s the return to the office of Vince McMahon, who resigned in riots last July amid allegations of sexual misconduct. As the company’s dominant shareholder, the 77-year-old orchestrated his own re-election to the board to formally prepare for a sale. Three board members were subsequently expelled and two decided to resign.
Potential buyers include Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund. WWE has hosted events there since 2018, with all the accusations of sportswashing — the use of sport by a regime to gild its image — that come with it.
Due to his Syrian origins and the tensions between the two countries, Sami Zayn never took part in these shows. Patric Laprade also doesn’t think this issue can affect WWE storylines. And he’s not surprised that despite the controversy, believers are sticking by the rendezvous.
There are people who just want to watch a TV show and be entertained by the stories, and that’s it — and that’s okay too, he says. Sami’s story, her advantage is that she joins the amateur who just watches wrestling because he likes it but also the one who is learning about the middle, who listens to podcasts, who reads newsletters. The interest in history doesn’t surprise me. She’s good at that. When former stars like The Undertaker praise Sami Zayn, everyone really believes in the story and sees how good they are at it.
However, Laprade would be very surprised if Zayn were chosen to succeed Reigns on Saturday.
But that doesn’t mean WrestleMania will be disappointing for our Quebecers because if the rumors are true, we’ll have Sami and Kevin Owens against the Usos for the tag team titles, Laprade points out. Two Quebec World Champions per team hasn’t been seen since the Quebecers [Jacques Rougeau et Pierre-Carl Ouellet] 1993-1994. There is a piece of art to look for there.