Sami Zayn was of the biggest topics coming out of the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia. Zayn did not participate in the show and explained his absence by saying he was dealing with ‘vertigo’. A report broke that suggested Zayn was not on the show due to his Syrian heritage.
In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscribe here), Dave Meltzer provided some new information on Zayn not appearing at the event.
Meltzer says that the Sami Zayn situation was kept a secret both before and during the show. Zayn apparently knew for about a week that he wouldn’t be on the show. He was told they would be doing an injury angle on RAW to explain his absence.
Meltzer adds that to the best of his knowledge, it wasn’t explained to Zayn why they kept him off the show.
There was apparently a company directive to avoid talking about Zayn to avoid controversy. This included the announce team receiving a handbook with a bunch of rules. These were mostly for customs for them to follow. It also featured things for them to avoid doing and saying. One of these directives was apparently not to mention anything about Zayn.
WWE also released a statement after the event about Zayn not appearing, which you can read here. Speaking of Meltzer, here are his star ratings from the Greatest Royal Rumble.
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