In a recent appearance on Rick Rubin’s “Tetragrammaton” podcast, Paul Heyman touched on a wide range of subjects within the realm of professional wrestling.
Discussing The Bloodline Saga, Heyman offered his insights into how Sami Zayn came to be a part of the faction, and it was a story of acceptance. Drawing parallels with general emotions human beings experience, Heyman said,
“The Sami story was the story of acceptance. I’ve given this before, so I apologize, it’s not unique, but the application of this explanation still applies. Anybody that’s been past seventh or eighth grade can relate to this. You’re in high school. You’re sitting at a table, you look at another table, and you say, ‘I want to sit with those guys.’ And your friends will say, ‘Yeah, but they’re assholes.’ Yeah, I know they’re assholes, but I want to sit with them. But why, they’re assholes. Because everybody notices them. Because they’re the center of attention. Because in this high school, now let’s use the word island, they are irrelevant. They live on the island of relevancy, and that’s where I want to reside. And somehow, you get your way into that circle. You’re in that clique, you’re in that elite group that no one else can get into. You’re in a closed-door society. You’re relevant. And you look around and you say, ‘Wow, these guys are assholes. How do I get away from them? And how do I get my revenge for the way that they’re treating me like the asshole that I’m not? I’m pissed off.’ It’s dangling the carrot in front of the horse, and the horse finally gets the carrot and realizes the carrot is sour.”
Heyman further stated how it was obvious where the story would eventually go, but it was the little nuances and subtleties as well as the relatability that made the story so intriguing and compelling. He said,
“From the day this story started, it was obvious where it was going to go. It was obvious. Sami was going to get close. It was obvious Sami was going to get in. It was obvious he was going to be sitting at our table, living on the island of relevancy. And it was obvious he was going to get bullied and battered and beaten and subjected to our assholedom to such a degree that at some point, he’s going to say, ‘I don’t want to be here anymore. I want out. This ain’t for me. They’re not who I thought you were. I don’t like you guys anymore.’ And it was obvious that for that he was going to pay a price. And yeah, people wanted to see it play out. They knew the story that was going to be told and they wanted to see our take on that age old tale.”
Heaping praise on Sami’s portrayal and his abilities, Heyman remarked,
“Sami was magnificent. He’s just so endearing. He does more with a hush puppy sad face than we could do playing to the people in the cheap seats. You know the old expression in our business is you never look down, you look up. Number one, it’s more cinematic, it’s more operatic. But if you look down, the people up top can’t see you. If you look up with your pain and your expressions, then everyone can see you and it’s more majestic and it’s larger theatre. And Sami can do more just with that hush puppy face and a close up of him looking sad than any of us can do reaching out for the 5, 10, 50, 100,000 people in an arena, NBA arena, club, building, or stadium that we play. He was just wonderful.”
