WWE News: Current Champion Calls Out Company For Omitting Him From Promotional Graphic
Current Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn didn’t appear happy when he took to social media on Tuesday to point out how he was the only titleholder who wasn’t included in a promotional graphic for this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown.
On Tuesday afternoon, WWE announced on Twitter that this week’s edition of SmackDown will be moved from Fox Sports to FS1 for “one week only” in order to make way for Game 3 of the 2020 World Series. Along with this announcement, the company shared an image featuring the blue brand’s champs, namely The Street Profits, Roman Reigns, and Bayley, who were all shown with their respective belts around their shoulders.
Being that he was the only SmackDown titleholder not featured in the graphic, Zayn replied to the tweet with an animated GIF of actor Bryan Cranston, adding what seemed like a sarcastic caption that alluded to his absence from the image. You can view his post here.
“Great pic of all the champions on SmackDown!”
Not long after Zayn posted his reply, several people expressed their support for the wrestler.
“Lol truly crushing the social media game these days,” read a tweet from former WWE on-air personality Renee Young.
“It was really cool of you to insist on taking the photo!” We Enjoy Wrestling Podcast co-host Eric Goldman jokingly tweeted.
“Here’s a pic of all the champions that matter on Smackdown,” wrote a third Twitter user, who shared a photo of Zayn winning the Intercontinental title at Clash of Champions.
This wasn’t the first time in recent days that Zayn has called out his employer for omitting him from its promotional materials. As documented by Ringside News, the Canadian grappler seemed to notice that he wasn’t featured in SmackDown‘s new post-draft intro video, as he retweeted the clip and wrote that the promotion he works for has two objectives — earning “massive” profits and “disrespecting” him at every possible opportunity.
Although Zayn’s recent comments appear to be in line with his onscreen role as a heel, the 36-year-old recently admitted that in his early days in WWE, he had a reputation for being an “annoying” person away from the ring. During a September episode of The New Day’s Feel The Power podcast, Zayn revealed that the company made him aware that some of his actions rubbed certain co-workers the wrong way. He added that, at that time, he had a tendency to look at things “through [his] own lens” instead of considering how his behavior might be seen by others.
