WWE News: Update On WWE NXT Star Sami Zayn Heading To The Main Roster
WWE NXT star Sami Zayn has been a huge part of the NXT roster for a couple of years now. He is possibly the first person to get the world talking about NXT, as he had a series of matches with Cesaro that were considered highly impressive. Many consider the matches to be some of the best in the brand’s history. Few thought Zayn would be this big with WWE.
Most assumed the former El Generico would come in as a comedy piece and would potentially lose the mask and all his greatness along with it. WWE took the mask away and gave him a completely different character, but he only got better from it. Zayn has been excellent in NXT and has been perceived by many as the backbone of the brand. However, some are predicting a possible main roster run.
Sami Zayn is no different. In fact, he was going to be called up last summer. If you recall, he came in to challenge John Cena for his WWE United States Championship. Zayn lost, but it was an impressive showing. This was supposed to be the actual call-up for Zayn, but Sami was hurt during this. He ended up hurting his shoulder before the match occurred, and then he went on to work the entire match with a bum shoulder.
This was impressive without any doubt, but it pushed for Sami Zayn to eventually have surgery and miss most of 2015. Thankfully, he managed to return, and now his main roster debut is set to go down. He had a small main roster return at the Royal Rumble, where he eliminated Kevin Owens in the Rumble match. This will most likely become his first main roster rivalry when he comes up.
According to Cageside Seats, he should be seen on the main roster pretty soon. The idea is to have him finish up with NXT at the WWE NXT Takeover: Dallas special during WrestleMania week. There, he is set to face incoming New Japan Pro Wrestling talent Shinsuke Nakamura. This will be an excellent match without any doubt, as Zayn knows various styles of wrestling and can easily work with the King of Strong Style. Zayn would then most likely debut on the WWE RAW following WrestleMania 32.
It seems that the two will basically tag out. Zayn is supposed to be coming to the main roster, while Nakamura will remain NXT for a while. The idea is that Nakamura will sort of take Zayn’s spot as a top NXT performer, which does make a lot of sense seeing as losing top talent from NXT means you have to replace them. Nakamura still needs to learn the WWE style before he can be called up to the main roster, where he will work a lot of house shows and television matches with some of WWE’s top Superstars.
They can risk him working down in NXT, most likely due to the independent feel they have there. Many of the stars who are in NXT have a great deal of independent experience, with most working in Japan or having worked with various Japanese performers. WWE can easily pair Nakamura up with guys like that while he learns. Once he has the style down well, he’ll most likely be called up. WWE has a lot of money invested him, so it makes sense to think that he won’t spend a year or so down there similar to Sami Zayn.
Many believe he could spend a good bit of time there, as a potential fall or end-of-summer call-up seems to be where WWE is headed with Nakamura.
Going back to Sami Zayn, there is still a good chance he works some of the NXT tours despite heading to the main roster. WWE needs star power on the live event tour, and Zayn brings that along with his NXT affiliation. Plus, his main roster time will help people know him who happen to not follow the NXT product.
[Image via WWE]
