Sami Zayn Reveals Who Came Up With WWE Clash Of Champions Ladder Match Finish

Some of the biggest buzz leaving WWE Clash of Champions was the Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat Ladder match. The inventive finish of the match saw Jeff Hardy's earlobe handcuffed to a ladder's rung, while AJ Styles had his wrist handcuffed to a different ladder's spreader. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn recently spoke with Metro UK, revealing that neither himself nor his opponents were the one who came up with the ending, but rather someone backstage.

"I wish I could take all the credit for that [ending], but actually Jamie Noble's a real genius," Zayn said. "He doesn't get the credit he deserves."

As for the match in its entirety, Zayn says he's very proud of it. The former El Generico applauded the match's blend of notable spots and character work.

"I think it was a really good match, and I'm really proud of it," Zayn said. "It had what I like about wrestling, which is a little bit of everything. There was a lot of character work, there was a lot of just good in ring action, some spectacular stunts, and some dramatic storytelling. That's the cocktail I like about pro wrestling. I like when many different elements come together, and that's what I feel like that match was, for me."

The Intercontinental Champion also had praise for another match at Clash of Champions, the Universal Title bout between champion Roman Reigns and challenger Jey Uso. Zayn says the surprise of the match's competitors is what got him invested.

"I think one of the biggest things that I love about it, is that I couldn't have predicted it," Zayn said. "I just got goosebumps even thinking about it and that's the beauty ? sometimes I think what's missing from our product these days, that lack of predictability."

Zayn referenced the recurring title challengers, mentioning the likes of AJ Styles and Baron Corbin, can make the product feel predictable. Zayn says Uso's placement as #1 contender is refreshing, but is also not a surprise for the sake of a surprise.

"You just don't expect it," Zayn said. "But then you see it and there's such a natural story there, and it's real It blurs the line of reality and storyline.

"People predicting the next few months ? they go, well, they just did Roman and this guy, so then logical step is Roman-AJ, Roman-Corbin, because there's a case of characters on the hierarchy. It's when you start to shuffle that up and break that up that it gets very interesting, and you start talking about new match combinations that people didn't think about."