10 Things We Learned From Sami Zayn On Talk Is Jericho
4. The "Ole" Chants
Jericho wants to know about the origins of Sami's trademark "Ole" chants and how that became associated with him. Zayn replies that the chant is big in Montreal which is a very "worldly" city, and it quickly caught on and just kind of stuck.
Chris calls it a universal chant that everyone knows and is fun and memorable and points out that he hears it at various different gatherings such as soccer events and concerts, even recalling how the audience at Iron Maiden shows will break into their own variation of it for the band, but that this is the first time it's ever been used in the context of their world of pro wrestling.
Zayn says that before he was in WWE working under a different persona - El Generico for the uninformed - he would bask in the chants and really play it up but now that he's wrestling under a different character he thinks it's remarkable that the chant has continued to follow him.
He adds that he gets a kick out of the fact that 10-year old kids in Baltimore will chant it for him with no knowledge of the history, just because "Hey, this is what we do for Sami Zayn".