J.J. McGee

You wouldn't think they could improve on Je'Von Evans' OG Cutter, but the camera angle putting it in front of the WrestleMania sign in slow motion might just do the trick.

This backstage segment did such a great job of making both Cody and Sami look consistent, well-rounded... and both right on the edge of an emotional precipice.

Am I disappointed Sami didn’t win? Of course. But Sami getting so mad at Drew estimating him as the "easy win" of the three men in the match that he attacks him and leaves himself open? It's perfect for his character.

It's heart-wrenching!

YouTube video by WWE Arabic فلوج رويال رامبل ٢٠٢٦: سامي زين يطارد حلمه في الرياض

Video clip taken from Sami's vlog: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLji...

"Maybe it's just not meant to be." A pensive Sami after his loss at the Royal Rumble. 💔

Oh, this is fantastic news! I’ll be looking forward to reading it!

I think my expression after watching Evans almost plummet to his doom was pretty similar to his.

A spectacular slow motion replay of Je'von Evans' OG Cutter finisher.

Dragon Lee gets his bell rung, very literally.

I am nothing if not predictable!

It's not that Sami always wins. (As a matter of fact, he won only one of all these matches!) But he is cussedly stubborn, and is not going to stay on his knees and listen to someone tell him he doesn't have what it takes.

And in the pandemic Thunderdome in 2021, Kevin actually does win a Last Man Standing match by getting him to stay down (at least for a ten-count).

It's Kevin who yells it at him the most consistently, which... makes sense, all things considered. Here, even when they're technically allies in 2018, he's got to try to keep Sami down.

(In interviews, Kevin notes Sami legit hit him so hard here that his ears rang).

Maybe most famously, in 2016 Kevin yelled it at him at the crux of their big blowoff match, just before Sami surged up to finally defeat him and end their feud.

It first appears in 2014, as he and Cesaro/Claudio Castagnoli kick off the very first NXT TakeOver and Sami attempts to win Cesaro's respect with a dogged tenacity.

"Stay down!" (A thread of Sami Zayn not staying down)

The match with Drew McIntyre marked the re-appearance (after something of a hiatus) of a constant theme in Sami's WWE career, a theme spanning 12 years now.

This was such a fun interview! Check it out if only for the discussion of whether Kevin & Sami are the most arrogant nice wrestlers we know, or if they're the nicest arrogant wrestlers we know.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

Ilja Dragunov innovating new ways to get turned inside-out by moves.

I love that Sami is past being a generic (ho ho) underdog at this point--sure, he's an underdog against McIntyre, but by now he's a veteran whose skill and experience make him a force to be reckoned with.

Because they ARE the best!

Part of why Iyo connects with the audience in such an electrical way is her joy in the ring--not just the celebration after the move, that's bonus. It's the delight in her face in the moments between moves that really does it.

NEXT WEEK I will have @mithgifs.bsky.social on The Work Of Wrestling #podcast to discuss their book #FightForever The Ballad of Kevin and Sami. It was a great conversation I’m excited to share with you.

A writer dreams of a book review that's about how reading your book fired up someone else's creativity! Also with bonus cute catsitting content (and Tim's Philosophy of Cat Relationships matches mine exactly, so I am feeling vindicated).

You know what? That tracks.

Those glimpses of Sami's son peeking over the barricade to see his father winning his title shot at the Royal Rumble!

"In the end, they'll always be brothers."

A very conscious Kevin reference to frame Sami's fight for a title shot at the start of the main event last Saturday!

You need to stop watching WWE every week, okay? We honor your great sacrifice (lol).

Do I think Sami will beat Drew at the Royal Rumble? …….Not really (but hope does spring eternal!)

Do I think Sami will beat Drew someday on his way to winning a world title? *Absolutely.*