10 Times WWE Totally Dropped The Ball On Something Hot

3. Sami Zayn's Montreal Moment

WWE Elimination Chamber 2023 Sami Zayn
WWE.com

On the pre-Elimination Chamber episode of SmackDown, Sami Zayn had a truly magical Montreal moment. The following night at the Premium Live Event itself, the hometown hero had several magical Montreal moments. But the problem is, he didn't have the ultimate magical Montreal moment that would've come with Sami toppling the nefarious Roman Reigns to become the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.

Sure, Zayn could well end up with a World Title to his name at some point in the future, but Elimination Chamber was one of those rare, special aligning of the stars where WWE had the potential to capture lightning in a bottle.

An organically over underdog babyface? Who we've all been wanting to see the light of being merely a pawn for Reigns and the Bloodline? As part of WWE's greatest storyline for nearly a decade? And that scrappy undersized underdog got to have the biggest fight of his life in front of his own utterly rabid people? This really was once in a lifetime, and WWE opted to not to pull the final trigger on what would've been one of the loudest pops in company history.

Again, WWE probably will end up taking a chance on Sami Zayn with a World Title before the Canadian hangs up his boots - particularly if and when the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship reverts to two separate entities - but any such big win will not be as magical as it would've been on that Montreal night, in front of that crowd, as part of this exquisite, lengthy story arc.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.