Sami Zayn on Roman Reigns: “He started playing [WWE] Instead of being played by them “

Although he thinks WWE management wants to prevent him from having another big title, Sami Zayn beat the odds this week on Friday night SmackDown when he and King Corbin won their tag team match to qualify for the match against the Universal Championship at Disposal chamber.

When he spoke with Kayla Braxton and Paul Heyman on Talking Smack, Zayn was convinced that a title match with Reigns was destined to happen at the Disposal chamber, but he thinks their main game could go either way.

“Paul and I tend to agree on a lot of things,” Sami Zayn began. “I’m sure we have differing opinions on what would happen if Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns go head to head for the Universal Championship. It is very good. I have a lot of respect for what Roman Reigns has become, really. All that stuff that I’m talking about, going the corporate line and being the corporate poster kind of thing and all that. Man, I hate to say it, but that was a Roman Reigns time ago. He was the golden goose, and he knowed, you know, where his bread was buttered, and he followed the corporate line.

“But eventually he realized that the company was breading its butter with Roman Reigns. He realized he was their golden goose, and he started playing them instead of being played by them. So, I respect that. I’m not going to sit here and come on the show and say, ‘Oh, if I go in the ring with universal champion Roman Reigns, I would walk through it. Man-to-man, one-on-one, any night, it can go either way. That’s what I think. But it’s a step further than what I got for a long, long, long time.

You can watch Sami Zayn’s full interview on the WWE Network. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Talking Smack with ah / t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcript.