5 things you probably didn't know about Sami Zayn

The internet has been buzzing relentlessly about Sami Zayn, which has sent the muggles into a dilemma since most of them don’t know much about him. The references to Sami on the internet have ranged from the brilliant to the utterly ridiculous over the past week, and there have even been some instances of Sami being compared to One Direction singer Zayn Malik.The bottom line is that Sami Zayn has become a social media trend. Everyone kept talking about the match he had with Cena, and though he was soon taken out with an injury, the future looked bright for him. He returned recently to resume his feud with Kevin Owens, and is now en route to making his WrestleMania debut at the 32nd edition of the mega event.Here is a look at some of the lesser-known things about the Canadian native.

#5 Steve Austin once asked Sami to change his style

Sami Zayn’s high-flying style is a joy to watch for most WWE fans, but it is far from easy to pull off for a wrestler. Only a fellow professional wrestler would completely understand the effort and danger involved in Sami’s style inside the ring and when Austin figured this out, he immediately spoke about it.

The incident happened when Zayn came in as a guest on Steve Austin’s podcast. Austin said that the planchas that Zayn does on a regular basis are good enough to kill him.

Though Austin made a lot of sense, Sami never changed. He is still flying around the ring, and it’s probably this flashiness that earned him a match against Cena.

#4 The Syrian connection

Although Sami is billed from Canada in the WWE, he actually has his roots in Syria. WWE put this connection to good use the last time they visited the Middle East, and Sami was not shy about flaunting his roots either.

He often sports Arabic writings on his wrestling pants, and he once came out wearing a ‘Free Syria’ t-shirt to show his support for the war-torn country.

The chances of WWE banking on his Syrian descent again is pretty low as the company harped on the Montreal origins big time before his match against John Cena. Still, he is a good option if they ever want to expand their market in the Middle East.

#3 The John Cena match was not his debut match

The match that Sami had with John Cena on Raw was not his debut. That is just a common misconception held by the majority of the WWE fan base; in reality, Zayn had already appeared in an episode of Raw before this.

In an attempt to promote the NXT Takeover event in September, WWE had booked Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, Tyson Kidd and Tyler Breeze on the September 8, 2014 episode of Monday Night Raw. It was a tag team match that saw Zayn and Neville teaming up to take on Kidd and Breeze.

The reason why most of us don’t remember Zayn is because it was Neville who stole the show. Zayn had a handful of appearances in the main event show as well, so the John Cena match is not even close to being his debut.

#2 His old gimmick and orphans in Mexico

Before Sami Zayn became Sami Zayn, he was a Mexican Luchador called El Generico. A lot of fans out there might know about this, but for the ones who don’t, the story is pretty cool.

Sami first took up the gimmick back in 2002 and ran with it in Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and many other big independent promotions. He had a legendary feud with Kevin Owens through those years and in 2013, when he joined WWE, Sami decided to let go of his mask and embrace his new gimmick.

His last appearance in Ring of Honor was an emotional affair. To preserve his El Generio character on the occasion, Sami said that he was heading back to Mexico to help orphans.

#1 He was ranked No. 44 in the PWI Wrestler Rankings of 2014

The Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s top 500 ranking is probably the best scale to gauge a singles wrestler. If you make it to the list, there is clearly something special about you.

Last year’s list was topped by Daniel Bryan, and Sami was in the 44th position. 44 might not sound like a fancy number at first glance, but considering that there are almost 460 wrestlers below him, it is indeed a big deal.

And you want to know which wrestlers find themselves among those 460 wrestlers? Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Goldust and many more.

Ranking above the likes of Kurt and Ziggler is not easy task, and it shows the calibre that Sami possesses.