Tenth time was the charm for Sami Zayn, who last night at Night of Champions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, won the WWE championship in a triple threat match against Cody Rhodes and Gunther.
The ending of the match came when Rhodes hit a double Cross Rhodes on Zayn and Gunther at the same time, but Rhodes went for another one on Zayn, who he held on to, but the Canadian went for a cradle and pinned the champion, sending the crowd and the commentary team bananas.
It was a full circle moment for Zayn, who when WWE started going to Saudi, was not even allowed to participate due to him being born to Syrian parents. Today, he was the mega face in the match, with the Saudi crowd clearly behind him.
A very emotional Zayn received the WWE title from the referee in the middle of the ring, and then celebrated by jumping in the crowd with the fans.
“Ten years I’ve been in WWE,” Sami said. “They’d said I would never do it. I would never win it, well here it is!”
Congratulations to the new champion!
