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Former Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn shares his opinion about the WWE Thunderdome Era

Sami Zayn recently interviewed Ryan Satin of the Out of Character podcast during WrestleMania weekend. He talked about his love for the WWE’s Thunderdome and why that was very important in his career.

Sami Zayn won the Ladder match at Clash of Champions
Sami Zayn won the Ladder match at Clash of Champions (WWE)

He also mentioned loving his match with Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 36 without fans. Zayn also wished there was attendance to see some of the things. He also said that it feels weird in an empty arena.

“I loved the ThunderDome era,” Sami Zayn said. “It’s an unpopular opinion, I know, especially because I love the fans. And I’m not going to say that all the time but I do, I really have a deep love for all of you really. Very profound, really, really it means so much to me and I know how lucky we are to spend this time together, it’s a miracle that we’re all here, it really is so I don’t take that lightly. (Wrestling Inc,)

“That’s why some of it felt so weird, and part of the reason why I’m such a fan of my match with Daniel Bryan. I know it’s not exactly what you’d expect when you see on paper: Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship, you’re expecting one thing. I know it wasn’t that and I would’ve loved to have had that, but the thing I’m so proud of is if you watch that match back, it never feels weird like it’s in an empty arena.

Sami Zayn believes that Thunderdome opened the door for creative things

While continuing in the interview, Zayn expressed how Thunderdome opened the door for new creative ways and said that WWE didn’t take full advantage of it.

“However, not having [the fans] there throughout the ThunderDome opened the door for some new creative ways to do things, which I personally, in my opinion, don’t think we as a company took full advantage of. We still tried to present the show as if fans were there, but they weren’t there, especially before the ThunderDome, when it was on the empty PC.

He mentioned how he is fond of the ThunderDome era and wondered if fans would have been there to cheer, it would have become greater.

“I really wonder if they would’ve cheered some of it if they would’ve turned me a little bit, even that stuff where I handcuffed myself to the barricade and I was there all night with my protest. How would that have been if fans were actually there? I really don’t know, so that’s the one thing I’ll always wonder about the ThunderDome era, but overall, I have a particular fondness of the ThunderDome era.”

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