Sami Zayn
| Sami Zayn | |
|---|---|
Zayn in 2023 | |
| Birth name | Rami Sebei |
| Born | July 12, 1984 Laval, Quebec, Canada |
| Spouse |
Khadija Sebei (m. 2018) |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Big Larry[1] El Generico[2] Rami Sebei[1] Sami Zayn[3] Stevie McFly[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[3] |
| Billed weight | 212 lb (96 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Montreal, Quebec, Canada[3] Tijuana, Mexico[2] |
| Trained by | Jerry Tuite[1] Savio Vega[1] |
| Debut | March 1, 2002[1] |
Rami Sebei (Arabic: رامي السباعي; born July 12, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sami Zayn, and is the current WWE United States Champion in his first reign.
Sebei made his professional wrestling debut in 2002 under the ring name Stevie McFly. Prior to joining WWE, he competed for Montreal-based promotion International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS), where he became a two-time IWS World Heavyweight Champion, and achieved breakout success in the United States with Los Angeles-based promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) and then-Philadelphia-based promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), all under the ring name El Generico, using the character of a luchador from Mexico with the catchphrase "Olé!". He wrestled while masked from 2002 to 2013. During his time in PWG, Sebei became a two-time PWG World Champion and five-time PWG World Tag Team Champion. He is the only person to have won both of PWG's annual tournaments, the Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament in 2010 and the Battle of Los Angeles in 2011. In ROH, he held the ROH World Television Championship and the ROH World Tag Team Championship as part of a team with Kevin Steen, with whom he later earned the 2010 Feud of the Year award from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He has also performed in Chikara and Evolve. Sebei also competed internationally for Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) in Germany, where he won the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship, and in Japan for DDT Pro-Wrestling and Dragon Gate (as well as its American branch), having won the KO-D Openweight Championship in the former promotion.
Upon signing with WWE in 2013, he took on the ring name Sami Zayn and began wrestling without a mask in WWE's developmental brand NXT, where he won the NXT Championship. After being promoted to the main roster, he became a four-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, one half of the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions (consisting of the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships) once with Kevin Owens, and a one-time United States Champion. From April 2022 to January 2023, he was involved with The Bloodline faction. In addition to his other WWE accomplishments, he also headlined several pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania 39 - Night 1.
- ^ a b c d e f Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Sami Zayn". Cagematch.net. Archived from the original on April 24, 2025. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
- ^ a b Kapur, Bob (November 7, 2008). "El Generico defies the odds". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Sami Zayn bio". WWE. Archived from the original on March 6, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.