Sami Zayn On Cody Rhodes Losing To Roman Reigns At WWE WrestleMania 39

The first quarter of 2023 in WWE was highlighted by fans wondering whether Sami Zayn or Cody Rhodes would be the one to dethrone Roman Reigns. But so far, it's been neither of them. During a recent appearance on "My Love Letter To Wrestling," Zayn spoke with Mark Andrews about his story colliding with Rhodes' journey and how the fans didn't turn on either of them in comparison to what happened with the main event picture for WrestleMania 30.

"There were two parts to it," Zayn said. "One, Cody genuinely did have a lot of respect and equity with the audience, especially coming back from that injury, and they just like him. So it wasn't the same thing as Batista returning, who they hadn't seen in years at that point, and they viewed him as a part-timer." Zayn then noted that the audience had learned to trust wherever the story was going even though fans were torn.

"I do think, strictly from a story perspective, it would have been great to see Cody put a bow on it, but it's still building," Zayn added. "That's the thing that people, it's so hard to understand about WWE. We build to these things that appear to be these culminations, but there is always a TV show next week." Zayn even thought Rhodes was going to beat Reigns at WrestleMania 39, however he's trusting that there will still be a pay off.

The current WWE Tag Team Champion also shared that there was one point where he thought himself vs. Reigns was the best story to headline WrestleMania, especially in between Survivor Series and Rhodes' return at the Royal Rumble. Then when their stories collided, he described it as "everybody lifting everybody."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "My Love Letter To Wrestling" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.