4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (15 May - Results & Review)
Ups...
4. This Is Really Good Character Work
Backstage, a remorseful looking Sami Zayn approached Nick Aldis to say he’s ashamed of himself for his actions during the Backlash match vs. Trick Williams. Then, he asked for a rematch, but Aldis pointed out that Sami’s had his rematch so would need to earn another one. Following that, the lesser spotted Rey Fenix tried to calm Zayn down when he got hot about it.
You just know there's a match coming between those men at some point. Probably when Zayn blows another gasket.
The internal struggle between being a good, honourable person who keeps tripping up and a heelish scumbag is interesting to witness, and Sami is playing it perfectly. Gingerbread Man silliness aside, he’s doing well with this. That story swerve was an unfortunate hiccup, but it looks like WWE will get away with things in the end. Triple H must know by now he can rely on Zayn to produce the goods when it comes to character work.
He's still banging on about his "ride or die" fans who believe that he's a good person, but even that plays before boos when he mentions it. The fact Sami is a cheating heel who claims he's being pushed into doing that by a system rigged against him is fascinating. This is the kind of character development pro wrestling needs more of.
Compare and contrast how compelling Zayn is as a personality next to Fenix. It's night and day. This is how you get people to care about your cast, WWE.