Sami Zayn Makes Honest Admission After Finally Winning the WWE Championship

The boyhood dream for Sami Zayn finally came to fruition at Night of Champions.

The Underdog from the Underground defeated Cody Rhodes and Gunther in a triple threat match to capture the WWE Championship for the first time in his career, accomplishing the rare feat of becoming a grand slam champion in the process.

With a bevy of established main event stars and incredibly talented up-and-comers set to occupy the world title scene in WWE for foreseeable future, hope of ever witnessing Sami have his moment in the spotlight was slowly fading away for many of Zayn's ride-or-die fans.

When Zayn countered a final Cross Rhodes attempt and trapped The American Nightmare in a high leverage pinning combination this past Saturday afternoon, he pulled off one of the more shocking title changes in modern WWE history and rewarded the faith of those who never gave up on him.

While speaking to Sam Roberts and Megan Morant on the latest edition of Raw Recap, Zayn said that finally capturing the WWE Championship brought him a tremendous sense of relief.

The weight of the world has been lifted off Sami Zayn's shoulders

“I’m still processing it, believe it or not. It’s kind of hard to fully take in. But I guess if I had to answer in one word, it feels great. It really does. It feels like the weight of the world off my shoulders. I think anyone who’s paid attention has seen that I kind of drove myself to the edge of sanity there for a little while just by putting so much pressure on myself to win this thing and it’s here and I feel like I can just breathe. It feels great.”

As for whether Zayn ever lost faith that he would ever win the big one, he admitted that he came close after losing to Drew McIntyre earlier this year at the Royal Rumble.

"I felt like maybe I had missed my window, and I couldn’t give up faith, but it was the first time my faith was shook… I knew I had the talent, I knew I had everything. I knew I was just as good as any of these guys: Drew, Roman (Reigns), Cody (Rhodes), Seth (Rollins) and the proof is you’ve seen me mix it up in the ring with all of them. You’ve seen my body of work. There’s no question in my mind that these are my peers, and that’s also what made it more maddening is why them and why not me?"

pic.twitter.com/8Xw3drsuAH
— Sami Zayn (@SamiZayn) June 29, 2026

Zayn also spoke about the championship windows of Oba Femi, Bron Breakker and others appearing to open up, which further made him question when his had closed. It did not and Zayn will make his first official appearance as the WWE Champion this Friday night on SmackDown, although the show will not be broadcast live on The USA Network.

The latest episode of the Blue Brand was filmed in Atlantic City, New Jersey, after Monday Night Raw went off the air. Spoilers for the show are available as WWE wasted little time in booking Zayn's first WWE Championship defense.

Should Zayn be successful in that upcoming match, he'll be able to turn his attention toward SummerSlam during the first weekend in August.

Oba Femi willingly took himself out of title contention on Monday night, despite winning The King of the Ring Tournament. Seth Rollins then swooped in and goaded Roman Reigns into giving him a World Title opportunity at the 'Biggest Party of the Summer.'

With marquee SummerSlam matches for The Ruler and The Visionary already set, it'll be fascinating to watch how the WWE Championship picture develops over the next few weeks.

Will Zayn still be the champion? If so, who will be his challenger? After the shocking events of Night of Champions, all bets are off.

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