Former NXT Champion Sami Zayn recently spoke to Sport360.com about being the first Arab champion in WWE. Zayn (real name Rami Sebei), who was born to Syrian parents in Montreal, Canada, joined the WWE crew for this past weekend’s tour of Abu Dhabi. He said:
“It’s very cool to come here and represent my people. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do in terms of being an Arab presence in an Arab market as I don’t think a lot of people have been able to do it in wrestling.
“Certainly in the WWE there has never been a positive Arab image so if I can contribute to that then I feel great about that. Not just for myself but the whole Arab market.”
Zayn is thankful that he can “be himself” and has not been saddled with a controversial (or largely racist) gimmick like Muhammad Hassan was several years ago.
“I’m very proud that I can be myself. I’m not trying to be Arabic, I’m just being me and I happen to be Arabic. I think that might be refreshing to some people and it’s a bit more realistic than these pantomime villains we’ve seen before.
“Hopefully I can change some people’s perceptions being a down-to-earth human being that happens to be Arabic. Whether you’re Arabic or Portuguese it doesn’t really matter. A dude’s a dude!”
“You don’t get a lot of Arabs in wrestling so being able to represent is huge to me and honestly some-thing I’ve always dreamed of.”