Almost two years in the making, Sami Zayn’s beatdown on Raw (Dec. 4) was the consequence of his words writing a cheque that his body was unable to cash.
The former WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre, was in the middle of airing his latest round of complaints about the status of the company when Zayn confronted him on Monday night. McIntyre took charge of the situation by reminding everyone, including Zayn, of the kind of person she had once been.
That infuriated the former El Generico, whose eminently hypocritical demeanor made him wonder if McIntyre’s family was pleased with the Scottish Warrior’s recent actions.
After that, McIntyre called for the referee, and as soon as the bell rung, Zayn got his much-deserved payback. Zayn was eliminated by a Claymore Kick, giving McIntyre the victory. Zayn had sustained a (kayfabe) knee injury throughout the match. Backstage, McIntyre proceeded to pound Zayn even more, stomping on his damaged knee and yelling at him that he had caused this by discussing McIntyre’s family.
McIntyre has expressed his disgust at being taken advantage of by the Bloodline on several occasions in his recent campaign to make amends for his professional transgressions. Zayn went to Roman Reigns and the Usos to snitch on McIntyre’s plot to destroy Reigns and his family, as McIntyre remembered on Raw. Zayn managed to gain Reigns’ favor a few months later by taking a bullet for The Tribal Chief, preventing McIntyre from getting a good look at the Undisputed Universal Champion prior to their match at Clash at the Castle.
Subsequently, McIntyre carried on his vigilante campaign on Raw, eliminating Seth Rollins and sending Jey Uso flying through a table after their world title fight. Declarer Michael Cole called McIntyre naive and heartless during the assault while a raucous crowd at Albany, New York’s MVP Arena jeered a virtuous guy with a real ax to grind.
Whatever one’s opinion of Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn’s television personas, the two men brought fire and intensity to Raw’s opening night, advancing McIntyre’s character—a retelling of Bret Hart’s 1997 story of a decent man in a bad world. Essentially, as his objections become more loud, McIntyre is right in his convictions but is met with rejection from the surrounding public and people.
