WWE Rumor Roundup - Bayley breaks up with AEW star, Backstage reaction to Superstar mentioning AEW on RAW, 3-Time Champion coming out of retirement?- 21st February 2021

#4. Sami Zayn reveals backstage WWE reaction to his AEW mention on RAW

Sami Zayn's Electric Chair' segment from the RAW episode on May 27, 2019, turned quite a few heads. The former Intercontinental Champion surprisingly mentioned AEW on live WWE programming.

Zayn took questions from the fans in attendance while he sat in an electric chair. But Zayn criticized these questions, and he offered several alternatives that could have been asked instead.

It should be noted that the segment was unscripted, and Zayn's subsequent AEW mention was also off the cuff. Zayn said that the fan could have asked him about anything, even AEW.

Why did @SamiZayn bring up #AEW on #WWERAW and what was the reaction when the "Electric Chair" was over?Full interview with Sami for @SKWrestling_, including him discussing his hiatus from WWE last year can be found on our YouTube Channel: https://t.co/PZk0t2s7ei pic.twitter.com/FCXweYNLNL

— Rick Ucchino (@RickUcchino) February 21, 2021

Sami Zayn revealed during an exclusive interview with SK Wrestling's Rick Ucchino that his AEW namedrop received unfavorable backstage reactions.

"So it wasn't entirely, entirely off the cuff, but it was off the cuff to a certain degree, and the reaction was, uh, let's say unfavorable [laughs] since the electric chair met its demise that very same week."

AEW had announced its arrival at the time. While the promotion was yet to launch Dynamite, the Tony Khan-led company was already the talk of the town.

Sami Zayn explained that AEW was the trending topic because the promotion had announced a big television deal. The realization had set in that AEW was a legitimate competitor to WWE, and he was ready for counter questions about WWE's new rival in the business.

"So it was right on everybody's mind. It was super, super fresh, and I think they had just announced this TV deal. They had just announced that this wasn't just going to be a pay-per-view. This is going to be a competitor and all this sort of stuff. And they tell me that we're doing this segment where it's legitimately, you know, unplanned questions, and anybody could ask anything. So at the time, this was the number one topic in the wrestling world. So you kind of expected to be asked about it."

Sami Zayn did a fine job as a heel during the Electric Chair segment, but WWE edited out the AEW mention from its YouTube video.