El Generico was a huge fixture of the indie scene for years. Around 2012, he reportedly went to Mexico where he may or may not have been killed by the cartels. There’s allegedly an orphanage named after him.
There are reports that WWE’s Sami Zayn was close to El Generico. While the masked man spent many years in Ring of Honor before going to Mexico, he did take his talents to IMPACT Wrestling shortly before his alleged death.
“Lost” El Generico Matches
El Generico
On their latest episode, DEADLOCK Podcast host, Johnny, called on IMPACT Wrestling to release the unaired matches.
IMPACT Wrestling tweeted that “two never before seen El Generico matches from 2011 against Amazing Red and TJP are available now for the first time ever on IMPACT Plus!”
Two never before seen El Generico matches from 2011 against Amazing Red and TJP are available now for the first time ever on IMPACT Plus!
The annual wXw 16 Carat Gold Tournament has become one of the most prestigious events in today’s Independent wrestling scene and some of the biggest perfumers in the industry have won the 16 man competition. Former winners include Chris Hero, El Generico, Tommy End, Zack Sabre Jr and Sami Callihan.
This year’s iteration begins on March 10th in Oberhausen, Germany. The full event will be available to view in full on wXw’s on demand: www.wxw-wrestling.com/pages/media/wxwnow.php
wXw have now announced the first round matches for the 3 day event and they are:
Sami Zayn was born and raised in Montreal, QC Canada, but his family comes from Syria. His real name is Rami Sebei, his family is Muslim, and he speaks Arabic fluently.
Here’s a fun task:
– Using google translate have the words “Sami Zayn” translated from English to Arabic.
– Then reverse the words. Have the Arabic translation translated back to English and you get the words “El Generico”. Pretty creative.
While WWE is avoiding political talk at the moment, Sami Zayn hasn’t hesitated to comment on the US travel ban.
The fear, hatred & division sold to us is a much bigger problem than our struggling brothers & sisters are. CHOOSE an open heart over anger.
Zayn recently spoke to ESPN about his Syrian heritage and Muslim upbringing, as well as his hopes to change perceptions of Muslims.
“It’s definitely a sensitive topic to discuss, but I have felt since I signed with the WWE I was in a unique position to reestablish how Arabs were perceived in the WWE and western media,” He told ESPN recently.
“Ever since I was a kid and growing up and watching things like the ‘Naked Gun’ movies, there was always this stereotype about how Arabs were perceived and portrayed.I’ve never watched those Arab villains in the movie and felt like that was me. They were nothing like me, and now I get to just be me — and hopefully being me strikes a chord with a lot of young Arabs and non-Arabs, honestly. We’re really not all that different.”
Zayn is a Canadian citizen, and even though he his family is from Syria, he will not be impacted by the US travel ban.
Quebec Mosque Shooting
On January 29th 2017 2 gunmen opened fire on a mosque in Quebec City. 6 people were killed while attending prayer. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are both from Quebec.
Both Owens and Zayn could be seen wearing black armbands with the Quebec fleur-de-lis, a symbol of French Canada.
Last night, Wrestling Twitter was abuzz over something that had been discovered when a fan was playing around with Google Translate. Apparently trying to figure out if there was some special meaning to Sami Zayn’s name (or more likely just playing around), someone translated “Sami Zayn” from English to Arabic. Remember, Rami Sebei, the man behind Sami Zayn, is of Syrian descent, so it’s not like this was the most random thing in the world. So then, when you translate the Arabic text back to English, it says…El Generico??!?!?
Clearly, there’s a big wrestling fan at the Google Translate team as no, that’s not any kind of real translation. Other machine translation sites, like the one on Bing, turn it into “Zain Sami,” and El Generico was, of course, Rami Sebei’s pre-WWE gimmick. Officially, though, they’re friends, as opposed to the Hideo Itami, Finn Balor, and Asuka treatment of acknowledging their past with different names.
It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if there were more wrestling relate Easter eggs like this within Google Translate, but since this one is so perfect, it may be best if they just stopped with this one. They can’t top it.
-In a rare turn of events when it comes to the recent Fan’s Choice voting segment of WWE live events where the options for Brie Bella vs. Natalya are a “Dance Contest” and a regular singles match, the fans actually voted for a regular match. As it turns out, it didn’t really matter, as they went ahead and did the same angle that they’ve been doing at all recent live events, with the two starting off in a Dance Contest, only for Bella to attack Natalya and turn it into an actual match.
-Wrestler birthdays for today include WWE Hall Of Famer Bruno Sammartino’s son, David Sammartino, who himself is a former WWE wrestler. Sammartino turns 53 today. Also, former WWE Superstar and ECW original Yoshihiro Tajiri turns 43 today.
-WrestleReunion will be running the Dorman High School in Spartanburg, South Carolina on Saturday, October 19th for a Special Olympics fundraiser. Scheduled to appear are former WWE Superstars The Nasty Boys, Demolition, Jimmy Hart, Dr. Tom Prichard, Luke Gallows and other pro wrestling personalities. For more information, visit WrestleReunion.com.
-The film “Riddick,” which features former WWE Superstar Batista in a key role, fell to number 14 at the box office this weekend at $1.62 million. In Australia, it was number eight.
-Sami Zayn and Bo Dallas, both of whom have been working random WWE main roster live events recently, will compete for the WWE NXT Championship at the next WWE NXT live event in Tampa, Florida on Thursday, October 3rd.
The following are highlights from the latest online blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
JR on Sami Zayn: “Keep an eye on NXT talent Sami Zayn. He’s a keeper and likely will be on a WWE main roster this year or so I think. Great attitude and skill set. There are several excellent prospects in NXT. How they are introduced to the masses is a huge key.”
JR on writing an autobiography: “Giving more thought on writing an autobiography. Funny how many fans want the book to be a tawdry, salacious book. That’s not happening.”
JR on seeing old friends this past Saturday: “Had a great time Saturday in Fishkill, New York at their Wrestling Under the Stars event. Promoter Michael Lombardi does a wonderful job at his events. Great seeing Jerry Lawler, Charles Wright, Rikishi, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Matt Striker, John Morrison and many others. Scott looked great and has made legit, giant steps in getting healthier. I’m so proud of him. Scott’s son Cody Hall is an excellent, young prospect who’s being coached and mentored by his Dad. The young man has major potential. The event Saturday was my last, scheduled wrestling booking for 2013.”
Check out the complete blog online at JRsBarBQ.com.
Sami Zayn, the former El Generico, is listed in the advertisements for tonight’s WWE live event at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Zayn is a pretty big name pro wrestler who is actually from the Montreal area.
Also listed for the WWE live event in Montreal is WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd, who hasn’t wrestled or appeared on WWE programming (outside of Total Divas) since he underwent knee surgery earlier this year.
The scheduled lineup for the Montreal live event is as follows:
-Randy Orton (c) vs. Daniel Bryan [WWE Championship]
-Curtis Axel (c) vs. CM Punk [WWE Intercontinental Championship]*
-Rob Van Dam & Big Show & Mark Henry vs. The Shield**
-Natalya vs. Brie Bella
-Tyson Kidd vs. Wade Barrett
-Jack Swagger vs. Antonio Cesaro
* – The Axel-Punk matches, although advertised as title matches, have been changed to non-title matches at the last several WWE live events.
** – As noted, Mark Henry was cleared in the middle of the week to return to the ring following his hamstring injury at the Saturday live event in Boston. However, WWE has a tendency to keep guys out longer, especially on non-televised events.
WWE superstar Evan Bourne returned to action at Thursday night’s WWE NXT live event after a full year out of action due to injury. Bourne defeated NXT star Sammy Sane, formerly known as El Generico.
Bourne was asked a fan on Twitter earlier this week when he’ll be returning to action and he replied, “Not Long!”
Bourne suffered a badly broken foot in a car accident last March. He tweeted at the time that the foot was “Broken in 4 spots, dislocated in 5” and has been doing physical rehabilitation in recent months in preparation for his return.
It would appear that the wrestler known as El Generico will be going forward without his popular character in WWE as he competed sans mask at tonight’s NXT event. In his debut match last month for the organization, he sported the mask and attire. The renowned grappler competed under his real name, Rami Sebai.
Here’s a picture of Rami Sebai competing at Thursday night’s NXT show:
– Following WWE’s recent statement that they will no longer be paying to send Tammy “Sunny” Sytch to rehab, the former Diva wrote the company an apology letter. She took responsibility for the negative comments she made about WWE during a recent interview, but said that her comments were made out of anger and frustration and when she was not taking her prescribed medication. She said instead of accepting her own shortcomings, she projected her anger onto WWE.
She also admitted that the real reason WWE switched her to a different treatment facility was because the first facility recommended the move. The second facility was very different and as comfortable, which made her very angry.
– As previously reported, El Generico made his WWE NXT debut at a recent live event and appeared in his signature lucha libre mask, cape and ring gear. While many fans were relieved to see that it appeared WWE had not altered his beloved gimmick, it’s unlikely that he’ll get to use the El Generico name in WWE. WWE likes to own the names of their characters and typically does not allow wrestlers to bring their established names to the company unless they’re willing to sign over those rights.
Newly signed WWE developmental star El Generico made his first appearance for WWE NXT at Wednesday night’s live event from Orlando, Florida.
While Generico did not wrestle, he did make an appearance during Brodus Clay’s match against Conor O’Brien. After Clay defeated O’Brien, Generico joined Clay and NXT Diva Anya as the 3 danced in the ring.
After much speculation as to whether Generico would be keeping his “masked luchador” gimmick that he made famous on the indy scene, we can confirm that he appeared as his beloved El Generico character, with his standard black and red mask, cape and black trunks.
Check out these pictures of of El Generico’s NXT debut:
– Regarding the recently settled TNA vs. WWE lawsuit, TNA simply dropped their case and there was no financial settlement between the two parties. Both sides paid their own legal fees and TNA had to pick up the court costs associated with the case.
– The TNA lawsuit was the reason WWE held off on signing indy worker El Generico. WWE was looking to sign him last June, but had to put those plans on hold when they found out he had previously wrestled two tryout matches for TNA.
Even though Generico was never under contract with TNA, WWE wanted to be extra careful and stay away from a wrestler that TNA had looked at until the lawsuit was settled. It’s believed that WWE reached out to Generico around the same time that they contacted Ric Flair, who had the same issue with the TNA lawsuit.
Generico is now training at WWE developmental in Tampa and it’s expected that he will eventually debut with a different gimimck.
– Independent wrestler El Generico has officially signed his WWE contract, according to PWInsider.com. Generico has been in talks with WWE for several weeks but first had to pass all of his required medical physicals before officially being offered a contract. He is scheduled to report to NXT in Tampa, Florida over the next few weeks.
– WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Mike Tyson are scheduled to appear in Las Vegas this weekend. Tristar Sports Memorabilia is hosting Flair and Tyson for autograph signings on Friday and Saturday, February 1 & 2 at the Tristar Sports Memorabilia shop inside Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Visit the Tristar Facebook Page for scheduling information.
One of the top news stories of the week is that independent wrestler El Generico is headed to WWE, pending the results of his required medical testing.
Generico wrestled his final match for the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla promotion on Saturday night from Reseda, California. Generico teamed with his longtime partner/rival Kevin Steen, losing to PWG Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks.
After the match, there was a big farewell celebration for Generico, with the locker room coming to the ring, hoisting Generico up on to their shoulders and the fans throwing streamers into the ring. Generico thanked everybody for their support and said if worse comes to worst, he will always have a home at PWG.
Here are pictures from Generico’s final match for PWG & the most-match farewell celebration:
– Contrary to reports that independent wrestler El Generico has signed with WWE, PWInsider.com is now reporting that Generico has not yet signed with the company – and is currently undergoing WWE’s vigorous physical examinations before he’s offered a contract.
In the past, there have been several issues that led to WWE signings being delayed (Kassius Ohno & Daniel Bryan) and negotiations breaking down (Nigel McGuiness) pending the results of medical examinations.
– The USA Network issued the following release:
CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF “WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW” WITH “THE ROCK®”
Celebrate 20 years of roaring WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW action with a special anniversary episode, featuring Dwayne “The Rock®” Johnson. The Superstars and Divas from the World Wrestling Entertainment® Universe take the stage live in front of thousands in attendance at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX and millions watching at home. WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW continues to be the most watched regularly scheduled year-round program on basic cable television and recently celebrated its 1000th episode. RAW Superstars include John Cena, CM Punk, AJ Lee, Daniel Bryan, Kane, The Miz, Eve and Zack Ryder.
It was reported last night by PWPonderings.com that independent wrestler El Generico was signed by WWE. The news has now been confirmed by multiple sources.
Generico has been pulled from this weekend’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla event in California and could very well have wrestled his last match on the independent scene.
PWInsider is reporting that WWE signing El Generico is part of a broader company strategy to sign several of top independent workers. Specifically, WWE’s head of Talent Relations, Triple H, has “a number of names” on his radar. WWE will be actively perusing top independent talent in the coming months.
We cannot confirm the validity of this story, but there’s a report at PWPonderings.com stating that according to their sources (which include two top indy promoters), WWE has signed top independent star El Generic to a developmental deal.
We’ve heard that WWE has been interested in Generico for quite some time, but for now, consider this an unconfirmed rumor.
El Generico signing with WWE would be a huge story, so we will touch base with some of our sources and see if this legitimate.
– WWE officials have shown interest in recent weeks in acquiring El Generico, a Canadian independent wrestler who uses the gimmick of a luchador from Mexico.
– Retired wrestler Black Bart is undergoing surgery this week to remove his gall bladder, reports SLAM! Wrestling. The 64-year-old appeared for numerous organizations throughout his 27-year career, including the World Wrestling Federation in the late 1980s as a “jobber to the stars.”
– The late Eddie Guerrero is featured in today’s “Superstar Spotlight” on WWE.com. He passed away seven years ago today after being found unconscious in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by his nephew, Chavo. Chavo attempted CPR, but Eddie Guerrero was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived at the scene. He was 38 years old. An autopsy revealed that Guerrero died as a result of Acute Cardiac failure due to underlying Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular disease.
– Former WWE stars Goldust and Tommy Dreamer have been announced to appear at the Wales Comic Con taking place Sunday, April 28, 2013 in Wrexham, United Kingdom.
