Canadian professional wrestler Rami Sebei, better known by his stage name Sami Zayn, has competed for a number of wrestling brands. He currently holds a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWE) and competes under the ring name “Sami Zayn” in its “RAW” division. Before signing with the WWE in 2013, he performed for many wrestling promotions after making his professional wrestling debut with International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) in 2002. Under the ring moniker “El Generico,” he performed on the independent circuit while wearing a mask over his face and using the catchphrase “Olé!” In the “Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG),” he won the World Tag Team Championship five times and the PWG World Championship twice. Additionally, he became the sole winner of the PWG’s yearly “Battle of Los Angeles” in 2011 and the “Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament” in 2010. He won the ROH World Tag Team Championship, ROH World Television Championship, and the International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) World Heavyweight Championship twice (ROH). Thus far, he has won the NXT Championship once and received the Slammy Award once from the WWE, where he doesn’t wear a mask during his performances.
Early Life & Childhood
On July 12, 1984, in Laval, Quebec, Canada, Rami Sebei was born into a Muslim family that had emigrated from Syria to Canada during the 1970s. He speaks English, French, and Arabic with ease.
Jerry Tuite, Savio Vega, and Patty the Kid were his wrestling instructors.
Career of Sami Zayn
On July 14, 2002, at “Scarred For Life,” Rami Sebei made his professional wrestling debut as “The Generic Luchador” El Generico with the Montreal-based professional wrestling promotion, “International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS).”
He defeated PCO on June 15, 2004, at the IWS Fifth Anniversary Show “V” to win the IWS World Heavyweight Championship. On February 16, 2008, he won a second title at “Violent Valentine,” defeating Kevin Steen, who is currently competing for the WWE Raw brand under the ring name Kevin Owens.
When the IWS members started touring the US in 2004, Sebei caught the interest of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), an independent professional wrestling promotion in the US, and he finally started working regularly for PWG.
His accomplishments with PWG include five PWG World Tag Team Championships (Paul London on May 9, 2010); Kevin Steen on July 29, 2007, and March 21, 2008; Human Tornado on August 6, 2005; and Quicksilver on December 2, 2006). He has also won two PWG World Championships. He made history as the only guy to ever hold the World and World Tag Team titles simultaneously twice.
He is the only artist to have competed in all eight of PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA) tournaments since 2005. August 20, 2011, he won the BOLA pinning Steen. On May 9, 2010, he also triumphed in the Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, where Paul London played the role of “Peligro Abejas!” He became the only individual to win both of PWG’s annual tournaments as a result.
He achieved a number of successes while doing stand-in work for several wrestling outfits. These include representing Ring of Honor (ROH), wrestling for Chikara, taking home the 2011 Rey de Voladores title, and defeating Kevin Steen in the ROH World Tag Team Championship match on September 19, 2008, as well as the ROH World Television Championship match on June 26, 2011.
He has also made multiple appearances for the German professional wrestling promotion “Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw)” since 2005. He won the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship on May 19, 2012, and the 16 Carat Gold Tournament on March 4, 2012.
He has also been to Japan, where he competed as a professional wrestler for the “Dragon Gate” (DG) banner. He performed for the Tokyo-based professional wrestling promotion “DDT Pro-Wrestling” from early 2011 to 2012. On September 19, 2011, he won the “DDT Extreme Division Championship,” his first title in Japan. Among Sebei’s notable accomplishments with the company include the September 30, 2012, win of the KO-D Openweight Championship, the highest title in DDT, and the 2012 Best Foreigner Award.
He competed for the American professional wrestling promotion “Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA),” which was an outgrowth of Japan’s Dragon Gate, in 2012.
January 12, 2013, was his final PWG performance. That same month, he got a contract with the WWE. Though he didn’t compete that day, he made his WWE debut on February 13, 2013, working with one of the company’s development brands, “NXT.” On March 7, 2013, he participated in his first bout for “NXT” in a tag team match at a live event in Tampa, Florida, without a mask and under his true name. Later on, he took up the ring moniker “Sami Zayn.”
He made his on-screen debut with NXT on the brand’s May 22, 2013, broadcast. On September 6, 2013, he made his WWE debut at a house event in Montreal.
On December 8, 2013, he was given the 2014 “Slammy Awards” “NXT Superstar of the Year” title.
Sebei entered a title vs. career match for the NXT Championship on December 11, 2014, and he made a voluntary NXT resignation if he lost. He triumphed against the reigning champion, Adrian Neville, in the match, which took place at the NXT TakeOver: R Evolution live event in Winter Park, Florida.
He was selected for Raw in the tenth WWE draft, which took place on July 19, 2016, and as part of the Superstar Shake-up, he was later traded to “SmackDown” on April 11, 2017.
At the October 8, 2017, “Hell in a Cell” event, Sebei took on a heel role for the first time in his professional life. In a “Falls Count Anywhere” match, he assisted Kevin Owens in defeating Shane McMahon, which led to a feud between the two. In the “SmackDown Live” show from October 10, Sebei defended his actions by claiming that despite SmackDown’s moniker as the “Land of Opportunity,” McMahon has not provided him with any possibilities.
In an unexpected development, Sebei and Owens were dismissed by ‘SmackDown’ general manager Daniel Bryan on the March 20, 2018 episode of the show for their attacks on McMahon the week prior. On April 8, 2018, Bryan and McMahon competed against Sebei and Owens in a tag match at “WrestleMania 34,” with the agreement that Sebei and Owens would be rehired to SmackDown following the bout. But it was Bryan and McMahon who prevailed in the contest.
Sebei and Owens were given Raw contracts by Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon on the April 16, 2018 episode of the brand, after having been free agents for a while.
Video games featuring Sebei’s persona include WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, and WWE 2K17. Every time the Edmonton-based professional ice hockey club, the “Edmonton Oilers,” won on home ice during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the WWE entrance theme by Sebei was played.
Individual Life of Sami Zayn
Sebei’s romantic history and personal life are hardly known. Nonetheless, some accounts state that he is wed to a woman by the name of Deeja.
The gifted wrestler is now well-known on social media, where his Instagram account, “samizayn,” has a large following of over 500,000 users, and his Twitter account, “SamiZayn,” has amassed an amazing 1.09 million followers.
In July 2017, he created the “Sami for Syria” fund to support the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), a non-political, non-profit organization. To date, he has raised over $91,000 for the fund.
Net worth of Sami Zayn
The estimated net worth of Sami Zayn is about $1 million.