Sami Zayn Calls Royal Rumble Loss to Drew McIntyre ‘Damaging,’ Says It Left His Underdog Story Feeling Burned Out

Sami Zayn is now the Undisputed WWE Champion, but the road to getting there was far from smooth — and he hasn’t forgotten the low points along the way.

Appearing on the Raw Recap podcast alongside hosts Sam Roberts and Megan Morant, Zayn opened up about one of the most difficult stretches of his recent title pursuit: the loss to Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship at the 2026 Royal Rumble Premium Live Event in Saudi Arabia. Zayn described the defeat as “damaging” and admitted that, in the aftermath, he felt his underdog story had been completely burned out.

It’s a candid admission from a performer who has built his entire WWE identity around being the lovable, resilient everyman who keeps getting back up no matter how many times he’s knocked down. A title loss of that magnitude — on one of WWE’s biggest stages, in a championship match he had worked so hard to earn — clearly hit differently than the usual setbacks his character typically absorbs.

What makes the reflection all the more compelling is the context in which it now arrives. Zayn is telling this story as the reigning Undisputed WWE Champion, meaning whatever doubts he harbored about his underdog narrative being exhausted, he ultimately found a way to push through them. The journey from that Royal Rumble defeat to championship gold adds considerable weight to both the struggle and the eventual triumph.

For fans who have followed Zayn’s long and winding path to the top of WWE, hearing him articulate just how close he came to feeling like it was all slipping away only makes the payoff feel that much more earned.