Sami Zayn Reveals Message John Cena Sent Him After Winning WWE Title

Sami Zayn is still on top of the world after winning the WWE Championship at Night of Champions last weekend, and he says the outpouring of support he's received in the days since has been overwhelming.

Amid a busy week of driving around and grabbing some pizza with his new prized possession, the 'Last Real Good Guy' in WWE caught up with the guys on ESPN New York and spoke about the largely positive public reception to his shocking victory over Cody Rhodes and Gunther.

"One of the things that has overwhelmed me the most about this is the outpouring of support and love. The words that came up the most were like overdue and deserved. Man, to get that from so many people that I respect and love, it’s really been touching and amazing to no end," Zayn said.

John Cena sent Sami Zayn a congratulatory text message

😘 pic.twitter.com/eVsizUeB9E
— Sami Zayn (@SamiZayn) July 1, 2026

One of the people who reached out to the new WWE Champion was the man who's held more world titles than anyone. Zayn said that John Cena sent him a very unexpected and extremely nice message following Night of Champions.

“He just kind of reminded me of the difficulty of attaining this and that less than 1% of the people that aspire to do what we do ever gets to this point. That’s not lost on me," Zayn said. "One of the things he said that also really touched me is like, this is a genuinely earned — I don’t want to throw out personal stuff that he said to me, but the thing that stuck to me is that he said you really did it your way."

Reading those words of affirmation from the undisputed greatest of all-time is something that certainly meant a great deal to Sami.

"He’s the man because he didn’t have to text me at all. It’s really one of the more touching texts that I got, to be honest with you. He’s a very thoughtful person and I think he was trying to remind me, in case I wasn’t already, to be very mindful of the unlikeliness and how difficult it is to reach the mountaintop. It was cool, it was a really cool message to get.”

Now that Zayn has reached the apex of WWE, the hard work truly begins. Sami will make his first televised appearance as the WWE Champion on Friday night on SmackDown in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The show was filmed this past Monday night after WWE Raw, so members of the roster and crew could have some extra time off for the upcoming holiday weekend.

Zayn's first WWE Championship defense was set up on that show. You can read those spoilers by clicking the link above.

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