During a recent appearance on the After the Bell podcast, Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Sami Zayn recalled the mindset that used to be impressed upon NXT talents during his time on the black-and-gold brand.
Zayn signed with NXT in February 2013 and made his WWE main roster debut in May 2017.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Sami Zayn on what he was told when he was in NXT: “I remember when I got to WWE, it was NXT or something like that, it was very much the mentality of, ‘you should be furious that you’re here. You should want to get out of here. You should want to get on the road. Everyone around you is your enemy, they are all vying for your spot. This is a competition. You have to be the best to get out of here. If you don’t want to be the best, you shouldn’t even work here.’ I remember a line something to the extent of, ‘If you don’t want to be the next John Cena, you shouldn’t even be here.’”
On how he reacted to it: “I remember hearing that and being completely [mouth agape]. ‘What? This is insanity.’ Let’s just say we’re in a room with 100 people, let’s just say the next John Cena is in this room. There’s only one, so the other 99 people in this room should be miserable at all times trying to aspire to be that person? What kind of insanity is that?”
