Sami Zayn explains why every wrestler must wrestle under a mask

WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn has been at his heelish best since returning to WWE television recently. The SmackDown Superstar put on a fantastic match with AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy at the recent Clash of Champions pay-per-view, where he came out on top.

Sami Zayn has been with WWE since 2013, and after a few years in NXT, he was called up to the main roster. Prior to his current run with WWE, Zayn wrestled under a mask with the ring name El Generico, in various promotions.

In a recent interview, Zayn explained why every pro wrestler must wrestle under a mask at the start of their career.

Sami Zayn on why all pro wrestlers should start their career wearing a mask

In his interview with Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy, Sami Zayn reasoned why budding wrestlers have to wear a mask:

"Honestly if I was building wrestlers, I would make everybody wrestle in a mask for a few years. I think it's crucial. I mean I'm saying this having my personal experience, but I think it teaches you a lot of really valuable lessons in the performance side. Your body language sort of gets ramped up a little bit because you don't have the luxury of using the face, so you kind of learn to tell a more complete story using more of your body to articulate the same thing non-verbally, so I think that's pretty cool."

Zayn said that many were surprised by the facial expressions that he could pull off without a mask in WWE, after spending years wrestling behind a mask. He said that wrestling with the mask "amplified what I was doing underneath that", and that he had to dial back on the expressions that he made without a mask.

WWE have not had too many masked wrestlers in the past, with Rey Mysterio being the most popular masked Superstar in WWE history.

Sami Zayn wrestled in various promotions under the El Generico ring name, from PWG to Chikara, DDT Pro Wrestling, and Ring of Honor, to name a few. Zayn had one reign as the NXT Champion following his move to WWE, while he has had two reigns as the Intercontinental Champion, his current one being his second reign.