Sami Zayn talks about change in the type of gimmicks

By Shiven Sachdeva - November 29, 2019

Sami Zayn has been on a roll ever since he started managing Shinsuke Nakamura. Although the former NXT Champion does not actively compete any longer, he is still an integral part of Smackdown.

While speaking to Mike Jones’ infamous podcast for DC 101, Zayn talked about how the landscape in wrestling is changing and the major changes in the stereotypes that used to be prevelant in the world of pro-wrestling earlier.

“For me personally, it’s one of the things I love about this generation. Shinsuke’s [Nakamura] gimmick doesn’t revolve around him being Japanese. Like me, being Arab, I’m not coming out with a turban or acting the way the Iron Sheik acted. I’m a performer who happens to be Arabic.

Zayn, also spoke about another former NXT Champion Finn Balor, saying that despite being Irish he doesn’t need to come out with a box of Lucky Charms or speak in a funny accent to be Irish.

It’s just a lot more rooted in (the) reality of who we actually are and not playing this caricature or this stereotype of our background.

CC

pretty standard on this site these days. no idea who this new guy is, but he already seems to be following the Harrison style of reporting
Steven Davis

This same article was posted exactly three stories below.
Rinn13

Except that the Iron Sheik was from Iran. He’s Iranian. His accent wasn’t faked or forced. He played a cartoony villain, of course. But a lot of what you saw out of him, WAS him, his culture, too.

I get what he’s saying about stereotypes. But the thing he’s ignoring is, in Japan, or Mexico, etc., there were “American Stereotype” wrestlers too. It’s not as if it was just America, or “The West”. There have been archetypal and stereotypical characters in wrestling forever.