Sami Zayn is a former Intercontinental Champion (WWE)
Sami Zayn hasn’t been seen in action since WWE WrestleMania 36
WWE decided to strip Sami Zayn of his Intercontinental title as the Canadian hasn’t defended it for a while.
This was Zayn’s first reign with a proper WWE title since coming to the main roster. Zayn successfully defended the crown at WrestleMania 36 against Daniel Bryan but hasn’t been seen since.
His partners, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro, have featured on SmackDown but Zayn hasn’t been seen at all.
This could be a step taken personally due to the coronavirus pandemic. WWE star Roman Reigns has avoided all shows starting from WrestleMania. Reigns was to fight Goldberg for the Universal title but that slot was given to Braun Strowman in the end.
A statement from Fox confirmed the news regarding Zayn, however, they didn’t specify why he was unable to compete:
“@SamiZayn is unable to compete and defend the Intercontinental Championship, therefore @WWE has declared the title vacant.
“A tournament to crown a new Champion will begin on Friday Night Smackdown on FOX.”
A new tournament for the title should be interesting given that we are having something similar on NXT.
However, Jordan Devlin is the NXT Cruiserweight title and cannot fight on the brand due to being stuck in the UK.
NXT has setup an interim championship, something that they could have done for the Intercontinental crown too.
However, this decision has certainly upset several fans. While a top star could replace Zayn at the end of the new championship and SmackDown will have a storyline to build. It does seem unfair on the Canadian who has often been overlooked by the major brands.
Many fans tweeted their disgust at the decision. Some spoke about Andrade keeping his title despite a doping violation while others highlighted that Brock Lesnar barely defended the WWE title when he was champion.
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