Sami Zayn is a WWE champion.
After coming through both Gunther and Cody Rhodes at Night of Champions, Zayn has completed his rise to the very top of WWE after over a decade of hard work.
Zayn’s crowning moment came in front of an excited and buoyant Saudi Arabia crowd and in terms of big moments in 2026, this is right up there.
However, while many didn’t see Zayn’s win coming at all, it seems that WWE themselves didn’t actually see it either until very late on in their planning.
In fact, there was already a plan in place for Zayn to win the belt, and it wasn’t at Night of Champions.
WWE’s original plan for Sami Zayn’s WWE title win
It’s safe to say that WWE can pivot quickly when it comes to their storytelling.
Triple H and the creative team often have multiple plates spinning at once and sometimes, that means they change tack.
That indeed seems to be the case with Zayn.
According to Cory Hays of False Finish, WWE had actually got plans to make Zayn the champion at WrestleMania next year, coincidentally, in Saudi Arabia.
Obviously, that would have been a massive story in itself.
But as Hays writes here, the magnitude of having both Rhodes and Gunther involved in the storyline arguably elevated Zayn even higher.
It also opens up completely new avenues for WWE with what comes next. Many expect Rhodes to go and battle Roman Reigns again, while Oba Femi and Sami Zayn could also have huge parts to play.
