Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn appeared on ESPN New York to discuss various topics, including whether he would be disappointed with a short title reign or if he would be happy with it.
Zayn said, “I’d say a bit of both, both things are true at the same time. So I have — even prior, if you did an interview with me two weeks ago before I’d won the championship and you asked me, ‘Would you feel good about your career if you never won the championship?’ The answer would be ‘Yes.’ Because I’ve had what I consider to be a brilliant career. And there are people that I think have won the World Championship and the WWE Championship many, many times over that still never got to tell the type of stories that I’ve gotten to tell, or have maybe evoked some of the emotions that I’ve got to emote, or have the type of matches that I’ve had. So, I consider my career a success onto itself if it ended tomorrow, or if it ended two weeks ago before I ever won this championship. Now, does that mean I didn’t want the championship? No, of course I wanted it. So you know, you’re allowed to be content. I think that’s having perspective. Like, you’re allowed to look at your career and enjoy it and still want a little bit more. So, if this championship reign lasted a year, I’d want to like, ‘Man, wish it was 13 months,’ you know? ‘Wish it was 14 months.’ You’re always aspiring to more. And if I lose this in two months or three months or whatever, a week, two week? It doesn’t even matter. Whatever it is, I’ll be like, ‘I wish I had a little more time’ or, ‘I wish I win it again.’ There’s always going to be things you strive for.”
On accomplishing his goal:
“At the end of the day, I did something that I wouldn’t even call it a dream,” Zayn said. “I would have called it a fantasy if you asked me when I was 13 or 14 years old, a fantasy. Not even something you could actually dream of in a meaningful way whereby you’re setting attainable goals for yourself because it’s something you can visualize it. It was so unfathomable that it was more fantastical and more of a fantasy than anything and I’ve done it. So that you can never take away from me if my career ends today, tomorrow, a week from now. If the title reign ends a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, it doesn’t matter to me. I did it. It’s incredible. But that doesn’t mean I won’t want more, you know? That’s just the nature of the beast when you’re — I think you need to have that kind of drive to get to this point to begin with.”
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(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
