In an interview with Metro, former WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn revealed that he never liked Jackass while talking about his WrestleMania 38 match against Johnny Knoxville.
Despite being a fan of pro wrestling and having eventually become a wrestler, Sami doesn’t like watching people getting hurt: ”Well if I’m being honest, I was actually never a fan. I knew it was obviously very popular, and I think now that I’m working with Johnny Knoxville I’m realizing a lot more how popular it actually was. I was just so consumed by wrestling at that age, that I kinda never took to it. If I’m being honest, I think I kinda missed the point of Jackass when I was younger. I think I only, at a glance, looked at it at first and just saw guys doing crazy things and getting hurt. I’m not a fan of watching people get hurt to be honest. Which is strange to hear considering I was obsessed with pro wrestling and I became a wrestler. But I’m a bit squeamish, I’m not a fan of watching people get hurt.”
Zayn thinks he and Knoxville will have to think outside the box to make the match special: “On the one hand, yeah, I get to test that pain threshold of his, which he’s famous for. But on the other hand, if it’s straight up wrestling I don’t think anybody expects him to be able to hang with me. But the fact that it’s anything goes might open the door to some of the stuff he’s good at, which is the gags and the pranks and the weapons and whatever else it is….I think this whole thing has been a lot of fun, certainly for me, I hope it’s been fun for the audience as well, because we’ve gotten to build the match in some very unique and orthodox ways that you just don’t get to do with another WWE superstar. We’ve gotten to do some really outside the box, unconventional and fun things to build this match.”
