— Ahead of this week’s WWE Superstar Shake-up, the latest edition of “WWE List This!,” looks at five Superstars who benefited from it last year. At the beginning of the video, a graphic is shown featuring a collage of WWE Superstars, with those not affiliated with either Raw or SmackDown LIVE placed in the middle. The free agents consist of talent recently promoted from NXT (Aleister Black, EC3, Heavy Machinery, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross, and Ricochet), and Sami Zayn.
After undergoing surgery on both of his rotator cuffs, Zayn returned to action last Monday on Raw in an impromptu Intercontinental Championship Match against Finn Balor.
But after Balor narrowly retained his Intercontinental Championship, the full extent of Zayn’s transformation over the past nine months or so became apparent. Sami didn’t just shave his head and change his gear; he underwent a top-to-bottom enlightenment during his time on the shelf and formed some less-than-savory opinions about the WWE Universe.
Stating that the audience is not the “voice of reason” they fancy themselves, Sami lobbed off insult after insult at the fans at the Barclays Center and their inherent, unchecked “ugliness” before declaring he would carry a new mission statement upon his return: To “come out here week after week and hold each and every one of you accountable.” As if to drive the point home, Zayn concluded his return with a biting sign-off: “See you in hell.”
