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SUNDAY MAY 28 2017 – EBWF DEATH BEFORE HISHONOR – SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME – CALGARY, ALBERTA; CANADA
It had been a tough few months for Sami Zayn recently, as not much seemed to go his way in terms of results and getting into the championship picture. In fact, the biggest blow of all saw him left out of the WrestleMania card completely which proved to be a reality check that he can’t take nothing for granted, despite achieving a great deal in the company already. Still, it was time to hit the reset button in the hope of turning things in his favour and there was no better time for him as he boasted an impressive record in the King of the Ring tournament by winning the last two. This year, it kicked off well for him as he managed to get past Seth Rollins to advance into the next round. However, there was a much more vicious cloud hovering over him in the form of Kevin Owens, and their segment on MizTV eventually confirmed a match between the former best friends at the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view which would – probably – conclude their bitter rivalry.
As the event rolled on, the cameras inside of the Scotiabank Saddledome focused on Corey Graves and Joey Styles as they turned out attentions to the upcoming match.
Joey Styles: Well ladies and gentlemen as Death Before Dishonor rolls on, we turn our attention to our next match, and perhaps the most personal of the night, Corey.
Corey Graves: You’re right, Joey. I know both of these men very well, what they’ve been through and the path they’ve taken to get to this stage tonight. Could it have been avoided? Probably, but the fact is tonight for the first time in EBWF history we have two former best friends turned bitter enemies going at it as Kevin Owens takes on Sami Zayn.
Joey Styles: You certainly don’t want to miss this one, especially what happened on MizTV when Kevin Owens not only threw Sami Zayn head first into the monitor, but laid him out in the middle of the ring with a Pop-Up Powerbomb. While the King of the Ring may be on his mind, tonight his focus has to be on the threat that is The Prizefighter. We managed to pick his brains earlier this week to get his thoughts on this whole situation as our very own Michael Cole caught up with Sami Zayn.
Attention turned to the titan-tron where the fans in attendance were watching a pre-recorded segment featuring Sami Zayn and Michael Col2 in a sit-down interview. It was the usual set-up with Cole sitting opposite Zayn who didn’t look to be in the best of moods, but wanted to get a lot of his chest regardless and agreed to sit down and do the interview.
Michael Cole: Ladies and gentlemen, my guest at this time…Sami Zayn. Sami, thank you for joining me here today where we’re…less than one week away from the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view where you’ll be taking on somebody you know very well, Kevin Owens. A lot has happened in that disastrous segment, what’s been going through your mind since then?
Sami looked disappointed, but angry.
Sami Zayn: It’s been a strange few weeks, to say the least. Surprised? Not really, I know Kevin more than anybody and I’m probably more pissed off at myself for not seeing that attack coming, but I think the world caught a perfect glimpse of the sort of vile human he is. All it’s done is fire me up for Sunday and I can’t wait to end this.
Michael Cole: We see things like this happen, teams imploding, friendships ending, what is it about this one that makes it so personal to you?
Sami Zayn: That’s just it, this wasn’t a friendship or a team, it was brotherhood and you don’t expect someone you once consider a brother to do what he did to me. People see teams come and go all the time, here you have Chris Jericho and Wes Ikeda, Edge and Randy Orton and so on, but this is or was on a whole different level to that and this is the only we can settle this, and I plan on closing that chapter of my life for good on Sunday.
Michael Cole: So, how important is this to you? It’s not a title match, it’s not a number one contenders match, nobody must leave the company, nothing is at stake. Why this obsession? Why this desire to beat somebody you have nothing to prove again? I mean, we all have our rivals in this world…
Sami Zayn: That’s what I don’t think you or anybody else understands here. I know Kev plays it all cool and brushes it off on the exterior, but I know that inside he’s just as eager as I am to get my hands round his neck and actually find out once and for all who the better man is. The second he turned his back on me, I found out the type of man he really is. The thing that brought us close in the first place was that we were polar opposites, we didn’t have much in common apart from the love of wrestling. Two young, fresh faced kids with no other prospects in life but to travel the world together competing in front of five, ten, 15 people for not much money. Then, we got a bit of a break, teamed up, won titles and became one of the best, most popular tag teams on the indie scene. But forget all of that, the think that irks me still to this day is the day he became World Champion at ROH, I was there behind the curtain the first one to hug him and tell him he deserved it and pushed him harder than ever to become better and better and better. Then? It’s my turn, and I catch one break in life to become a World Champion somewhere and where was he? Go ahead, find him, ask him where he was and what he did for me compared to what I did for him. That just shows everyone the kind of person he is; selfish, arrogant and a piece of trash who I now realise wasn’t worth my time in the first place. Still, I learnt a lot from this whole experience, this whole journey which I’m hoping ends this and we never have to revisit this again by sitting down interviews and asking questions on answers you already know on why we don’t get along or like each other.
It was clear Sami was getting a little restless and agitated at having to be reminded of their situation.
Michael Cole: Well…would you say he held you down in your careers?
Sami Zayn: I don’t think there’s a concrete answer to that. In my mind, yes, I am the better man, the better competitor and the better human being. In Kev’s mind, he’s better, who decides that? Sure, we’ve both achieved a lot and while he was the shop window in what we were, I was the goods in the back keeping everything afloat and I feel like it’s the same now that were singles stars but I guess on Sunday we find out who the better man really is, even if I have become World Champion here and he hasn’t…and I know that pisses him off every single day when he realises that.
Michael Cole: Any chance there could ever be a reconciliation between you two?
Sami Zayn: No. I don’t so, I don’t think that benefits anyone. Look, we had our history, things I’ll never forget from being his best man at his wedding to being there when his children were born, but he was the one that threw that away and I hope one day he’ll realise that it could have been very different. As I said, as much as I want it to end, I don’t think it can, never, guys like us are meant to fight forever because we’re only put on the planet to do this whether it’s against each other or anybody else. He is the one that has something to prove now, not me because everything we achieved away from the EBWF doesn’t matter here and if we both retired tonight, the history books would show that Sami Zayn did a lot more than Kevin Owens ever did in this company and that’s the reason he’s on my case because he can’t live with himself until he’s achieved what I have, and that’s become the World Champion and the old me would have been ecstatic to see him at that level but now it’s my mission to beat him in every chance I get and make sure he can never get there, not just before I can get there again…but ever. If he beats me on Sunday then I have an even bigger job on my hands, but just like he’s been a dark cloud over me to pull me back when I’m about to achieve something on my own and I’m pretty sure I have it in me to do the same to him, should that time ever come.
Michael Cole: Just one last question, if you don’t mind? How important is this match and victory to you? What happens if you win? What happens if you lose?
Sami straightened his blazer as he exhaled, understanding what was at stake as he scratched his beard and chuckled thinking about all of the possibilities.
Sami Zayn: As much as I hate to admit it, it’s probably one of the most important, certainly on a personal level anyway. I’ve managed to overcome the best of the best, to win the tournaments, to become Intercontinental Champion and to become World Champion and in my eyes, all of that goes to waste should Kevin defeat me at Death Before Dishonor. Michael, I CAN’T let that happen, I can’t let him have the last laugh and have him beat me and let him prove all of those people right that always thought he was the strong link, that HE was the one that would achieve more than me. If I win, I move on for good and focus all of my attention in the tournament and try to become world champion again but if I lose…do you really think I can end up in that position again, or that he’d let me live it down? I’m not prepared for that scenario, we’ve come full circle after all of our celebrations and achievements together to where we are now, full circle, back in Canada to finish what we started many years ago. It’s time to end this.
With that, Sami looked right Michael with a look of determination on his face, adamant that the only result he could afford was a victory and losing to his former best friend turned bitter rival would have a huge impact on his career, negatively. He overcame bigger odds in the past with more at stake, but this one was personal and it was perhaps the biggest match of his EBWF career.