At Royal Rumble 2026, Sami Zayn challenged Drew McIntyre for his Undisputed WWE Championship. McIntyre had recently won the world title after defeating Cody Rhodes on SmackDown in a Three Stages of Hell match.
Zayn had shared the ring with McIntyre numerous times before their Royal Rumble showdown. He also had an undefeated streak in Saudi Arabia, which made a lot of fans believe he was going to win the World Championship.
However, at Royal Rumble, McIntyre prevailed once again. A report now suggests that Sami Zayn pushed hard to change the outcome of this match behind the scenes.
Sami Zayn Was Pushing To Become The Undisputed WWE Champion At The Royal Rumble
This comes from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He says that Zayn actively pushed to win against The Scottish Warrior in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t think Zayn should have won and neither did Levesque in the end. Still, this was a subject of discussion as to who would win right until the day of the show since Zayn was pushing for it.”
Following the event, CM Punk started a WrestleMania rivalry with Roman Reigns, and it seems like Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes are going to continue their storyline till the Show of Shows.
On the February 6 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Cody Rhodes attacked Drew McIntyre before he could say anything. Later in the show, Jacob Fatu also laid fingers on the World Champion.
There’s a chance that this could even be a Triple Threat for the Undisputed World Title at WrestleMania, something Meltzer thinks is a possibility.
Sami Zayn Has Failed In His World Title Ambitions Before
Royal Rumble wasn’t the first time Sami Zayn failed to fulfill his World Championship dream. In the past, he’s faced stars like Gunther and Roman Reigns for the World Title but failed to defeat them.
Sami Zayn has been with WWE for 13 years, but he’s yet to ever win the big one. Although he’s won many championship belts in the company, such as the Intercontinental Championship, United States Title, as well as Tag Team Titles.
Sami Zayn Can Still Win The World Title In WWE
Even though many fans want to see Sami Zayn become a World Champion in WWE, the company doesn’t feel the same about him. The World Title picture is currently locked for the next few months, and it’s unlikely Zayn will be added to the title scene at least until after WrestleMania.
There’s still a chance he could win either the World Heavyweight Championship or the Undisputed WWE Championship in the future, but fans will have to wait for that.
Do you want to see Sami Zayn become a World Champion in WWE?
Ishaan Sharma has been following wrestling ever since he was 8. That was over a decade ago. He loves to write about this pretend sport and has worked with online publications such as Sportskeeda and TheSportster, where he shared his insights about the wrestling business.