We already reported on how the Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura match came about and where Zayn ranks it among his best matches. In this next section, Zayn admits that him and Nakamura went into the ring without any prior interaction and it sounds like the two just winged it. Pretty incredible considering many fans have called this the match of the year so far of 2016.
Here is his full response from his appearance on Talk is Jericho:
“I think I met him literally once. And we’ve had very parallel careers. He started [at] the same time as me. I think I started two months before him or something. [Him] 14 years, me 14 years. He was in New Japan. I never worked New Japan, so we never worked. We’ve met maybe once. We never touched and I remember Matt Bloom, who’s head of the [WWE Performance Center] now, was saying, ‘hey, maybe you guys want to get in the PC and spar a little or something like that. I don’t want the first time you guys get in the ring ever, the first time you touch, to be at this big match’. And unbeknownst to me, [Nakamura] said the same thing I said, ‘no, no, no, I prefer that’, which is a dangerous thing, but it’s what I know. Yes, I prefer for the first time to be in the show, instead of a ‘hey, lets feel it out in the ring’ [and] feel how this guy moves and stuff. So we ended up putting something together” (Source: Talk is Jericho, H/T WrestlingInc).
Pretty incredible and just goes to show you how talented both Nakamura and Sami Zayn. To be able to put together that amazing of a match without much of feeling out process is incredible.
Let us know your thoughts on his comments!! You can catch the full interview on Talk is Jericho.