Sami Zayn Says Mick Foley Inspired Him More Than Anyone Else

Sami Zayn recently spoke with Planeta Wrestling. Here are a couple highlights from the interview:

Fastlane PPV: “Well I have to be honest, I didn’t get to see the whole show. After my match I had to ice my back and I had to do some things, so I didn’t get to see the whole thing. I was planning on watching it [later that] on the Network, which is one of the great things about the Network is you can watch the stuff the same night, but I kind of fell asleep so I didn’t get to see it all… But what I did see, I saw the main event, I saw Roman vs. Braun. I thought that was really good. I saw the girls’ match. I don’t know, I thought what I saw was pretty decent, I thought it was good. The main event was certainly interesting. Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman was really good. I heard Neville and Jack Gallagher had a great match. I can’t speak about the whole pay-per-view (PPV) but I have to imagine it was really good.”

Mick Foley saying he sees a lot of himself in Zayn: “Definitely because Mick Foley really was one of my biggest inspirations to actually become a wrestler. To actually try and become a wrestler. Hulk Hogan when I was a kid and Bret Hart when I got a little older, but still young those are my inspirations and my heroes. But as I got old enough to where training to become a wrestler might actually become a possibility and having that desire to one day become a wrestler, I think Mick Foley inspired me more than anyone else. To say that he saw a lot of myself in him, first of all it’s an honor, and also I feel the same in return. No doubt about it.”

With is the secret to Canadians’ success in the WWE: “I was thinking of that not too long ago. I don’t know what it is but I just think of a lot of great wrestlers that come from Canada. I don’t know what it is about it, I don’t know why, but it’s just the way it is. A lot of great wrestlers come from the states too, which probably add up more so than Canada, but I don’t know. Canada has just produced some really great wrestlers. I really don’t know what to attribute it to. I feel like maybe it goes back to the days of stampede and uh – you know I really don’t know. Maybe the Canadian guys coming out of that territory in Stampede and those days, it was a bit of a more gritty, hard-nosed style. I think they popularized that, and the Canadian wrestlers that were successful from that era embodied that hard-hitting gritty style. So the Canadians became the wrestlers that followed those wrestlers and carried on that tradition. Quality story telling and hard-hitting action. I just think we have a very strong sense of what makes this business so great and we embody those things to the best of our abilities.”

People preferring SmackDown Live over Monday Night RAW: “That’s fine. As long as they’re watching and enjoying the show, good for them. I just appreciate you guys supporting WWE, I really do. I just feel like any show I’m on is better because I’m on it. Naturally I’ve felt like that my whole career. Even when I was wrestling on little shows in front of 100 people I just thought ‘This is the place to be because I’m here.’ So I feel like RAW is the show, like THE show. I don’t really watch SmackDown. If I was on SmackDown then SmackDown would be the show. That’s just the way my brain has always kind of worked. But if you prefer SmackDown that’s fine, just thank you for the support either way.”