Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - WWE Superstar Sami Zayn (FULL INTERVIEW) | FN Barn Burner

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

Boomer sits down for an exclusive 1-on-1 interview with WWE Superstar Sami Zayn ahead of his highly anticipated match at Elimination Chamber: Toronto on March 1st. Sami Zayn opens up about his rivalry with Kevin Owens and what fans can expect from their epic showdown at the event. Don't miss out on this inside look before the action goes down in Toronto!Get your tickets now at Ticketmaster and be part of the action at Elimination Chamber: Toronto!Powered by @bet365. Whatever the moment, it’s Never Ordinary at bet365. Download the App today and use promo code:NATION. http://www.bet365.ca/ Let us know what you think in the comments below!!BARN BURNER BLONDE https://originbrewing.myshopify.comFLAMESNATION MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8INSTANT REACTIONShttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-dO2AraHTeftSpPt00evo8M&si=lY5D3nk8zVtrQgql🚨 Subscribe to @Flames_Nation on Youtube 🚨➡️ / @flames_nation 🔥 Barn Burner with Boomer, Pinder, & Rhett Warrener➡️ • Flames Nation Barn Burner 🔥 After Burner ➡️ • Flames Nation After Burner @dailyfaceoff2563 LIVE with Frank Seravalli:➡️ / @dailyfaceoff2563 💻 Website: https://flamesnation.ca🐦 Follow on Twitter: @FlamesNation @960boomer @PinderReport @Warrener44📺 Subscribe on Youtube: @Flames_Nation#SamiZayn #EliminationChamber #WWE #WWEInterview #KevinOwens #WWEToronto #Wrestling #WWEExclusive #WWEAction #WWE2025 #EliminationChamber2025 #WWEEvent #Ticketmaster #WrestlingFans #WWEUniverse #WWEFans #TorontoEvents #WWELive #WrestlingSuperstars #WWETalks #WWEChamber #SamiVsKevin #WrestlingCommunity #WWEWorld #WrestlingContent #WWELegends #SamiZaynInterview #KevinOwensMatch #SamiZaynVsKevinOwens #WWEDrama #WWEJourney #WWENews #WrestlingEntertainment #WrestlingRivalry #WWEToronto2025 #SamiZaynVsKO #WrestlingTalk #WWEExclusiveInterview #EliminationChamberMatch #EliminationChamberToronto #WWEStoryline #ProWrestling #WrestlingStars #WWEControversy #WWEShowdown #WrestlingAction #WWEDebut #WWEHeadlines #WrestlingLife #WWEFansUnite #WWETicketAlert Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is coming Saturday, March 1st, Elimination Chamber in Toronto at Rogers Center. Our next guest is going to face his former best friend, now turned. Huge rival, Kevin Owens. He is Sammy Zane. Sammy, man, how we feeling? Not too bad, man. Nice. Well, you know what?

I feel like you need a friend. A lot of your friends over the years, it feels like you can't trust them. They're turning on you. You turn your back and they're sticking a knife in you. For you and Kevin, you've been doing this for so long now. It's over 20 years. Has anybody got a running total or a rough idea? How many times you guys have done this?

No, I don't know. And I'm scared to even guess because I feel like, you know, you talk to these old time wrestlers sometimes and they overshoot these numbers just huge. Because they just think they've been in the business so long and they've done it so many times. And they just, it was judged by like thousands. Yeah. So like I could easily say, oh, yeah, me and Kevin, We've been in the ring together thousands of times, but I don't know, you might add it up and it'll be like 800.

I don't know. You know, so it's a lot. Any way you cut it, it's a lot because I actually said this on TV the other night and I really do think it's true. I don't think there's two guys in the history of the business whose names are as inextricably linked throughout the entirety of their careers like this. Because when we were starting in Quebec, it was like. me and him. And then when we were breaking out on the independence in the states, you know, we're always kind of like, oh, the Canadian guys and us, you know, and then even in WWE, it's like our stories just followed us all the way through. And that's maybe one thing for

like, you know, certain guys might have joined up at a certain point in their careers. But us, it's really from beginning to end. So I don't know, I think it's really unique. And the thing that I think is even more unique. And I was really taking, taken by it this past week on Raw when we got the match made is how excited fans are to still see it. Yeah. And that's like, you know, I guess let me toot our own horns here for a minute, but I take a lot of pride in that that this is a match of people have seen countless times or some iteration of it countless times over the last 20 years. And even after all this time, people are still excited to see it. You know, I take a great deal of pride in that. I think that's cool. Well, and it's,

it was what I was going to talk to you about it. We'll get to it. kind of as we set up the match in a little bit, but I agree with you 100%. I think that that's not always the case, and we will get into that. Now, I did kind of- It's hard. That's not easy.

It's not easy. Everybody hates everything nowadays. We get tired of things so fast and we move on. You two guys, you have something special. And like I say, we will get into it. But I did kind of go through. And now, last man's over the years for you and K.O. No disqualification.

Last man standing. Ladder matches, money in the bank, steel cage. anything goes, street fights, fatal four ways. Is this your first non-sanctioned fight? No, it's actually not. We did one 15 years ago. That was kind of our first really high profile. I don't even know what you want to say.

It was a, we did something which I think for the time was really different and ahead of its time. On the independence, we did a storyline. We were a tag team for several years. Ring of Honor and then he turned on me and we built a story over a year, which back then on the independence, like the independence was not really a place for long-form storytelling. It was really a lot more dream matches and that sort of thing. And there was a lot of great talent out there that you currently see on your TV on WWE that were around at that time.

So there was no shortage of talent. And I think that was very much the spirit of those times. is like there were storylines that kind of got these matches made, but they were very, very thin. They were more about the matches at that time on the independence. So to do something that was a long-form story with twists and turns and supporting characters and all that, it was pretty different for the time,

but that year-long story culminated in an unsanctioned match. So it's pretty crazy. And look, I mean, I thought that was huge at the time. It was like, you know, the Hammerstein, no, it wasn't the Hammerstein, excuse me, the Manhattan Center in New York City. And it was Ring of Honor and it was a really big deal. And now to think that 15 years later, full circle and it's in the Skydome,

or at least, you know, the Rogers Center, but it'll always be the sky dome to me. That's crazy. You know, it's really crazy when you stop and think about it. If you're just kind of watching it as it goes, it's not that crazy. Like, oh, yeah, it makes sense. Canada and these two guys and whatever. But if you really stop and think about it, zoom out and look at the whole picture. or it is crazy that we're here.

You know, I didn't have it in a, but I kind of, like you say, back then, it was about the high profile names and the match. It wasn't about storylines and just the way wrestling and, you know, sports entertainment, if you want to call it that, has evolved. Fans now know, they kind of know how the sausage is made a little bit, right? We're kind of back behind the curtain a little bit. And I think there's still a lot of old school guys that don't like it. But I think it's made it more enjoyable now.

I don't know if it's harder for you guys or easier or what. because now the storylines, everybody's into them more. They need to be so much more deep and rich and there has to be, there's callbacks and well, that's a throwback to this and that. To me, it's made it all more, way more exciting, the storytelling angle of. And I think that pulls in more fans now. So I think so for a couple of reasons,

because it is pro wrestling. Great. You know, I love it. Always have, always will. But it's also a television show, right? So there's kind of like sectors of fans, in my opinion, where there's going to be the wrestling fans that just love wrestling

and are going to watch it anyway. Now those fans, you want to, you know, you want to respect them. And I think you want to reward them for giving you their attention over the years. And so I think, especially creatively over the last couple of years in WWE, I think there's been a much,

I think it's been far more rewarding for the fans who pay attention and go like, oh, you see, because, and it ties together, just like any TV show. But for some reason, we almost like shielded ourselves with the bubble of pro wrestling and did things that other TV shows would never do.

Like just dismiss history altogether and start a new every now and again rather than looking at it as one really long, you know, interwoven kind of thing. Yeah. So I think actually we're just kind of presenting it more like any television show. in some respect. So I think if you're a television viewer who turns on this program, which is a wrestling program, but also a TV show, you'll be engaged in the same way that you'll be engaged by any TV show

because there's interesting characters, interesting stories that are coherent, and you can follow them. And if you're a diehard wrestling fan, it's like, you know, you're picking up on the smaller nuance things. And to me, like not to get into like not to sound too artsy, Fartsey here, but for me, the, I take, what I love to create should satisfy everybody in a way. Like, it should appeal to people who've never watched a wrestling match in their life can turn on the TV and within a few minutes being grossed by it and kind of figure out what they're watching.

The same way, if you're a 35-year fan and, you know, you turn it on, like, and you've, you followed every detail. Yeah. It should be just as satisfying across the board. a very hard thing to do to be both like broad and nuanced at the same time. But to me, that's like, that's the genius of it. If you really want to create at a high level, to me, that's the sweet spot. I agree with you.

You know, like I'm a big Beatles fan. They're one of my, maybe my favorite band of all time. And I think like, you know, there's songwriters and musicians that still look at their work all these years later and revere it and study it and whatever and pick apart all these little details, but then like you could also show yellow submarine to a seven-year-old kid and they're going to love it. So it's like it's broad, but it's technical. It's, it's everything. You know what I mean? And that's, I mean, that's what I shoot for. And I think WWE as a product has gotten much better at that in the last couple of years. Yeah. I think guys for years have kind of

talked about how it's an art. And I think now more than ever you're able to appreciate the art that it is with the storytelling and how everything kind of plays together. And, I mean, this is where I started blowing smoke. I've been a fan of yours for a long time, and we talk about sports all the time. And you just strike me as an ultimate team player for the WWE. It's okay, we need, and it's not a disrespect. In case of emergency break glass, like, well, we need a bangor.

We need somebody that can get into a storyline, and it's going to deliver, and it's going to be convincing, and we're going to feel it as fans, and then the match is going to deliver. We need somebody to go with Johnny Knoxville into WrestleMania and make that work. That's Sammy Zane. I mean, I don't know. Do the powers of be here a no from Sammy Zane very often?

I don't think they hear no, but they hear ideas, that's for sure. They hear a lot of them. And I think I've been pretty fortunate over the years to have a pretty decent success rate to where it's given me a certain amount of equity with them that I, you know, my ideas will be heard. And again, that's also, I'll also give a little bit of credit to the sort of change in creative and the creative shift over the years, the last couple of years under Triple H, but even a little bit prior to that,

just with my relationship and the creative team, toward just my voice feels heard. And, you know, they're not going to do everything I suggest, but, you know, they don't look at it like, God, these wrestlers giving us these ideas. And, you know, some wrestlers might give bad ideas. I hope I'm not throwing anything bad out there. So I'll throw a lot out there and I really appreciate having a voice that's heard and like being met or if an idea doesn't work, they kind of explain why and hey, we want to do this idea instead or whatever and you just go with it.

But, you know, even that is, even that's sort of like a privilege that's earned over time because they don't write everybody into stories all the time. And I feel like over the last four or five years, I've been consistently written in. into a story at all times. And then it's incumbent on me, like you said, to just make it work. So I don't know, that's not lost on me, but I don't know. I'm happy with it.

And of course, like any player you want to be the best on the team, you know what I mean? But it's different because real sports and what we do is like, what we do is so unique. It's strange. Because in real sports, like, you know,

this is a Flames podcast, right? So like, if you, Uberdo puts up 100 points. That's it. He's the best player on the team. Case closed, you know what I mean? But that's not how it works for us. There's more to it.

Yeah, there's a lot more to it. It's not just like proven results because even results are like subjective. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's just such a unique little thing. But I do look, I personally take a lot of pride in versatility. I think that's another thing that when I was talking earlier about what I like to create and how, you know, it kind of gives a little bit to everybody.

That's one part of my philosophy. Another part of it is I've always admired the wrestlers that were good at everything. That could do, that could talk, that could do comedy, they could do hard hitting action, they could do high flying, that can kind of blend everything together. To me, that's the craft. And those were the wrestlers who I used as a blueprint and I followed in their footsteps when I was starting out. you know, the idea of the guys who started in like Stampede and then eventually went to like Europe and Japan and Mexico and then the States and they ended up in WWE.

But that was the template to learn your craft before you got to the, you know, the big show where you really were there to retire, put in a couple of years, make some money and retire. Things have changed a little bit in that respect nowadays. But that was always the template for me is like learn every aspect of the craft so that you're good and all of it. So that, and it kind of worked because like you said, now if you throw me in one situation or another,

WWE, I'll do my best to make it work. And, uh, you know, more often than not it works. Well, I got,

absolutely. There is that versatility and that, the acceptability from fans, which I want to talk about, but you go one year, you're winning the tag titles. You're ending a historic run of the USOS and winning the tag straps. And then you're ending another intercontinental run and going there or,

the work in the bloodline. It's been top floor stuff the entire way. And without your ability, like you say, to walk it, to talk it, to pull it off, not many guys can do that. And you're one of those guys. And I just marveling your ability on top of all of that. No one takes an ass kick in like Sammy Zane. I mean, nobody does it better.

And there's the flip side because a lot of guys can get their ass beat, but you still have to feel like as a fan, there's a chance. there's a chance this guy might come up from the ashes. There might be an exploder coming here right quick. And then our guys got a chance. Like we said earlier, I think people get fatigued with stuff. It would be enough of enough of this guy. But with you, you suck people in.

There's a real appetite for Sammy to pull this off and a belief that it's not over yet. We haven't seen the three count yet. Sammy's going to find a way to get this done. You mesh it all together. so well. Is there anybody that you kind of emulate that way in the turning the tables might pull this this upset off here because you do it so well? Well, thank you for the kind words. Firstly, I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know. I don't know who I would compare that to because what you're kind of describing in some ways is like a 101, you know,

it is. It is. Maybe face for an inside of term. here, but like any kind of good guy or in any kind of dramatic story, even if we're talking about like a Hollywood movie that's just fluff. Like there have been guys over the years. And I don't need to necessarily name names. But it's like, well, he's going to come back and he's going to put on a charge here. But I'm not really buying it.

Well, this is what I'm saying. Right. Like so the, the, the template is 101 is what I'm getting at. Sure. The template of like, here's a good guy or he's the guy I'm supposed to get behind. here's him in trouble and here's him getting out of trouble. Now that's a template for any Hollywood movie you've seen. It's a template for virtually any wrestling match you've seen.

It's a basic template for any kind of dramatic story we're trying to tell with a protagonist like that, a conventional protagonist. But what separates a great Hollywood movie from like a bad Hollywood movie, and it's just execution, you know, and that's a harder thing to articulate, like, why don't I buy this? that's a really hard thing to sometimes articulate, you know? Because like even when you talk about taking an ass kicking, it's like, and I wonder this to myself, like, okay, I'm getting beaten up and they care about me, but then sometimes someone else will get beat up. And it's exactly the same, but they don't care it in the same way.

Like what's the difference? And even I'll ponder that to this day. Like, what's the difference? Is it, you know, and sometimes it's such, excuse me, it's such. subtle mannerisms or it's like an indefinable I don't know it's like what's a difference between good acting and bad acting I don't you know you've captured it true it's just it's like I don't know how to describe it it's like it's a very hard thing to articulate it's a feel thing it's a it's a qualitative sort of thing not it's not something you can really quantify or just put into words

and go well it's this no it's just like an air it's a vibe it's a I don't know. It's just how you interact with it. It's very, very hard to put into words. And this is from a million miles away, but it feels like that's the harder thing to accomplish. Of course. To use the, I mean, not say there's being a heel and being a bad guy and doing that, the villain stuff, but to legitimately keep the fans on your side and invested and feeling the ass weapon that you're going through and then waiting for you to come back through. That's, that's the harder of the two to me. it's I so I've always preferred being a good guy um I actually have really enjoyed being a bad guy too I don't know I just I guess I just like wrestling I don't know but um I think I love the art of being a

good guy because it is very challenging because like if I told you hey walk into a room full of people and within 10 minutes I want everyone in that room to like you now that's a lot harder to do than if I tell you hey walk into a room and within 10 minutes I want everyone here to dislike you yeah It's really easy to get disliked. You know what I mean? Really easy. You walk into a room, you go, ah, you're, what is that you're wearing? And you're stupid and you're just loud and brash.

And within seconds, people will dislike you. It's easy to get people to dislike you. It's much harder to go and win people over. And I just like, you know, even, I don't know if you're getting this for me here from this conversation, but like I'm a sucker for the craft and the challenge and the art of it and, like, the difficulty of it. You know, like, it should be difficult. it is difficult and you want to rise to that occasion and rise to that challenge.

You know what I mean? It's like, I do. Yeah. No idea. And it's not exactly. It's not a very good comparable. But when we heard we might be able to get you.

I wanted to go back and watch some of the stuff. And I just immediately, it was going back to Elimination Chamber, 2023, you versus Roman in Montreal. And I just remember with my kid that night. And you talk about, you know, we now see behind the curtain is Romans had this thing for a couple years. He's probably not losing in an elimination chamber, but it is in Montreal, and it's Sammy, and there's the bloodline thing that we'll see how it goes. And I mean, you didn't need to

win anybody over that night. I mean, it was fish in a barrel for you that night. And on the flip side, he played it so well as the villain. I love that match. I mean, it, I went back and watched it. It still kills me to watch that because it was, it was so beautifully done. You, you come out second, like the champ comes out first, and then the four minute pause before anything happens, just because the crowd is so invested and then out of nowhere, the

explode, and it was awesome, and I remember sitting there afterwards, being my kid, he's a big fan, and we're just kind of, we're just gutted. I mean, I'm an old guy, Sammy, and I know how the sauce I just made, like I say, and I'm like, oh, I'm gutted that Sammy

Zane didn't pull it off, and we watched the press conference afterwards, and To see the legitimate pain that you were feeling, right, in front of the fans in Montreal, that was an amazing night. I don't know if it's even worth going back to it. Of course. That was one of the best performances for me,

Good versus Evil, where you just felt it as a fan. Yeah, and this goes back to what I was saying earlier here, but you know what I was saying about somebody who's been watching the whole time versus somebody who's just turning it on the first time, they should kind of get it either way. And, you know, like you said, the work going into that match had already been done. I walked into that building.

I didn't need to win those people over. We'd already, we already had them. Yeah. And they were already against Roman. But still, you have to construct it in a way that will get like, as if somebody didn't know the story. Somebody just turned on the TV and they're like, oh, my God. So you want to construct the match or whatever it is, you know,

You want to take them on a ride. And even for you who's been watching forever and you're smart to the business and all this stuff, you know, you just want to get people wrapped up in the ride. That's the, that's what we do. That's what's beautiful about it. And the times in my life as a fan where I was just completely in love with wrestling and addicted and like just, you know, it's because I was taking on that ride. The greatest matches and the greatest stories just took me on that ride.

you know and i think of brett and brett and sean and brett and uh steve austin especially as a as a kid where i was old enough to know what wrestling was um but i loved brett and the feelings i felt were real even though i knew this isn't you know real per se yeah yeah the feelings were like they were stronger than me you know what i'm saying i do no matter how I could logically tell myself not to feel the way I'm feeling. The actions just took over and created a feeling. That was like kind of almost illogical.

Yeah. You know what I mean? And those names you're trot. No, those are some Hall of Fame names. Those are the best. It's the best to do it. And you're in that class where you can make people feel like that. Where you, I'm going to suspend the disbelief in what I really know.

But for this, for the next 15, 20 minutes, I'm going to believe that this is going to be. be a thing and what's crazy about that match i mean roman's well into his reign he doesn't need any help at that point but it was it was another one of those how is this bastard ever who's gonna ever beat because the his cousins are coming in you got to beat the two refs are knocked out this guy's never good it was as though you're helping him build his rep up instead of maybe the other way around no no it's a it's obviously both like look there's no question working with roman for a year working with the bloodline did wonders for me. That's not even a question. But I think, and I think Roman, I actually

heard him say something like, it's in an interview, any good relationship or any good match, storyline, whatever you want to call, anything, everybody, the tide should rise across the board. Yeah. So yeah, I think if I was able to add to an already amazing thing that Roman was doing, and I think I did. You did. That's great. And there's no question. He did a lot to help my kind of, my stock and all that stuff. And again, that's one of the things that I take pride in when we're talking about the craft and all this like artsy-fartsy stuff is like checking those boxes, you know, and doing those things.

We're like, not only are we doing this, we're also doing that. We're also boosting value in this. And we're also helping his title reign. And he's helping me, like just everybody's winning. And fans are getting this great thing in the process. And just to touch on. one quick thing you said, but when it's done really well, you're not even consciously putting away your suspension of disbelief. It just goes. You're not like, let me, let me watch and

pretend I don't know. You just watch the way you're watching a movie and you just forget. There's no conscious decision to forget. It should take over. And that was one of the beautiful things about that Montreal matches, you know, especially when I see the faces in the crowd and all that kind of thing. Like the emotions that they're feeling are so real. Everyone in that building knows what this is. And everyone in that building can maybe go like, well,

wrestling is a month away, whatever, you know, like nobody's thinking that. They're all just emotion takes over. Yeah. And that's like, that's when this thing is at its best. So for sure,

that's one of my proudest stories, proudest matches, proudest, greatest nights for sure. Like, it was just great, you know. I don't know.

It's more a testament to everything that I think is great about the business. And we manage to kind of like encapsulate it, you know? And it's another thing that's happened where you'll have a faction or whatever you want to call them, a group in wrestling. And then somebody tries to, they want to be part of that group. We've seen it recently. It happens a lot. And it doesn't always take. This was, it was just tremendous.

There was so, there was no reason why it should work. And I don't want you to talk about stuff you've talked about a million years. No, but it just goes back to what I was saying. Like, it's just the execution and it's hard to articulate why it's different. Yeah. And look, it's the same reason like, you know, you're married. Yeah. Right.

Like you have, you're in a marriage. Well, there's millions of people that are married, you know, billions of people that are married. But your marriage is special because it's between you and your wife and two very distinct personalities that creates a distinct relationship. So that's why every, you know, every person's unique. every relationship's unique. And it's the same thing with this thing. It's just a bunch of people coming together.

Sure, we've seen it before. But when you take this person's background, that person's background and you just, it's a recipe. And that recipe just happened to create the right, you know, the right cake. Yeah. And I'll tell you, it's everything goes up and down. And wrestling's at such a high point right now. But that whole, how that's, when it started to break down,

You had to watch it. You couldn't miss an episode. You had to go back and make sure you caught it. What do they do this week? Is it funny? Is it heart? Well, what is it? The chair shot on Roman with K.O. on the ropes.

That's like a seminal moment. I feel like that's when you think of the last 10 years of wrestling, the things that you see. I mean, you'll see WrestleMania where Roman loses the belt and different things. But that chair shot, that's, I mean, it stands alone in a way. because it wasn't you weren't turning on him you were standing he was turning on you even though you laid the chair shot it was it was poetic it was really cool man like i said i've said this in other interviews but there's people who've had a hall of fame careers who've won the world title five 10 times over and very few of them ever get to tell a story like that so i feel very lucky to have been a

part of it or to do a story just a one night kind of culmination of a story like that um and i really wonder, like, if you didn't know it. Like, you know, my wife never saw dumb and dumber when I met her. Okay. And then I told her, you got to watch it. It's the funniest movie of all time. And then she watched it and she was like, huh. Really?

Yeah. You know, because sometimes it's like just you had to be there. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it was a product of that time and that place and the age you were when you watched it and whatever else. Like some of these things don't necessarily hold up the same. when you take them out of the time and place in which they existed.

So I don't really know how it'll hold up or, you know, in five, ten years or whatever. You know what? I'll date myself a little bit. It was very similar in a way when when Andre comes out on Piper's Pit and challenges Hogan to the match at WrestleMania and rips the shirt. When, when Roman is ripping the shirt off of you, I'm having those same vibes. Yeah. I mean, it felt like I don't think. about these things when we're doing them i don't think about oh fans will remember this in five years i just want to make it as good as it is in the moment because really like i know now with like wrestling and content and everything is like legacy and posterity and you can watch stuff back 20 years later but really this is a live in my opinion this is a live

art it's it's it's one take it's it's about here and now you know what i mean that's why wrestling's getting these big TV rights because it's one of the few things that like it's it's like sports like hockey right you got to watch it now you don't want to you could watch like a classic game the canada soviet game or whatever from the 70s and yeah it's a great game but it's about watching it now it's a happening it's in the moment and that's what makes wrestling great is for that moment in time nothing else exists you're just locked into whatever's happening in that moment yeah you know so it definitely felt great at the moment. And the fact that we're still talking about it now,

a couple of years later is great. But I think when you approach anything about making it the best it could be in that moment, the rest takes care of itself. Yeah. What's a career highlight for you? I mean, there's Montreal, but you didn't win. You've beaten K.O. at pay-per-views.

You end Gunther's run. You're part of the tag. I saw some people, there was somebody had said, you and Kevin winning the tag titles was one of the most satisfying victories that they'd maybe ever seen, whether tag or not, that you guys were able to end that run and for the two of you guys, what would be if you were to pick one moment that stands out? I can't pick one. I mean, you just mentioned about, you know, five.

And even then to have five just like available to you like that, that's a, you know, that's a privilege and that's a pretty good career. So yeah, I've been lucky I've had a really good career with a lot of great moments And some of them date back like 15 10, 15 years There's a lot I've been very proud of I don't know

It depends because there's kind of all these different categories You know, there's matches, there's stories, there's promos There's like I don't know Very hard to just pick one But definitely the stuff with the bloodline Stuff with cabinet mania That's some of the You know, it's hard to top a lot of

that. It might, and I hope it might still be coming because we saw Cody finish his story and that took a while. Yeah. You've done just about everything. And if, if, if you talk about the art, the, the underdog story, there might not be one better than Sammy Zane reaching the top of the mountain. How can you let that into your headspace? Because you get disappointed or where is that on your radar. I mean, you know, I try not to live and die by these things. Of course, it would be great to win the world title. Now, I've even said this on TV as like in character. It would be great to win it, but I can't live and die by that. It's not like, oh, I had a great career, but you know what I mean? Like, you know, punk, that almost became a famous thing about how he had this unbelievable career,

but he never made an evented mania. And it just like nodded. him, you know. So I don't want to have that thing be my main event of mania. Like, oh, but I never got this one thing. Like, who cares? I want it. I do want it, obviously. And I'm here for the long haul. And that's always what I'm working towards. But you also got to be able to look at it. And if the career ended tomorrow, you're like, I don't know, man, pretty good run, you know, and just take it for what it is. But for sure, I aspire for it. I want it. I want to get there. But I also don't want to put myself in a position where I live and die by it and feel like any part of my career was any less if it never happens. You're too much of a purist.

You're a fan at heart in the first place to, I think, allow that to happen. That's just the nice guy Canadian in you, that you can't focus. And you're, of course, going to take a lot of satisfaction and what you've accomplished. But I just think you're kind of missing the point if that's all it's about. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, take a great hockey player. again, there's a hockey show. So, you know, I don't know who, like a Joe Thornton or something like that.

Like, that's a first ballot Hall of Famer. No question about it. But, you know, and this is different because it's real sports. But then there's like, oh, well, you never want to cook. You know what I mean? But like, is that really everything? Is it? I don't think it is.

I think the guy made an unbelievable living playing the game he loved as a kid for the entirety of his, you know, adult life. I think that's pretty great. You know what I mean? Like, you just need some perspective. Yeah. And sometimes we, we lack that when we look very tunnel vision and like the sport and the prize and the, you know, these markers that define who's a success and who's not.

Like, you know, I don't know, to get this far is already a huge win. Heck of a run. Yeah. So you just, I don't know. I try to maintain that perspective. and I don't want to come off like, oh, he doesn't care or he doesn't care about the world title, this and that. Of course I do, but I just need, like, you know, perspective for day to day,

for me as a person when I wake up and I'm just happy to be alive and happy to be doing what I'm doing and to have done it well for all these years. I need to, like, put that at the front so that I don't ever become one of those people that's like, oh, but I never, we're fully, you know. It's a tough way to go through life. life. You're only going to be. Yeah, you're just setting yourself up for, yeah. And you know, those goalposts always move.

Yeah. So it's like, well, that's a dangerous game to play. It is. You know what I mean? Yeah. Let me get, because we'll kind of start to steer this home. We'll set up with the match in a moment. But with you and Kevin, we kind of started there for how long you guys,

you've gone on your own trails and they always seem to kind of come back, whether you guys are getting along or not getting along. here we are now, but again, I feel like the world can be jaded in the online world and our appetite is, it changes a lot and our attention span is so short. I think there'd be a lot of cases where two guys could be going at it again. And, okay, I've been there, done that, would maybe be the sentiment. And yet with you two, I feel like there's more anticipation now for elimination chamber coming up than there's ever been. We don't know what's going to happen.

We have a feeling it's going to be brutal. It's going to be an ass kicking for probably both guys. But I think it's very rare for the same two characters or people to engage in something like you guys have and still somehow be building the anticipation. I agree. And I don't know if there is a precedent as well. Like I don't know if there's anything to compare it to just by shableness. sheer time, like amount of time. Like, you know, I don't know.

So Sina Orton, that was a great match and they did it a million times. And it was always great even until the very last one. And maybe were their pockets of people who were like, this one again? Maybe. But by and large, you know, those houses were full. And arenas full of people came to see that match between these two megastars. But I don't necessarily know that they ran it back as many times as we did or for the amount of time in totality as we did.

So I don't really know that there's a precedent from guys who are like, oh, this is a big match, a big money drawing match 15 years ago and then 15 years later, oh man, here's this big money drawing match. I'm sure there are. I just can't really think of it off the top of my head. But I do feel like that's one of the ways where this thing with Kevin and I, that's where it gets to be a little unprecedented. Yeah.

And shocking to me, mind you, as well. Like even after this promo I did or whatever it was last week with Adam Pierce, where we got the match made. Yeah. You know, and people are chanting, like, let them fight. And, you know, they want to see it. And, you know, I need this match. And he doesn't want to give it to me, but we get it. And everyone's happy.

And they're like, oh, my God, I can't wait to see this match. It's a crazy. It's, I don't know, man. It's worth. I came to the back. And I was like, wow, imagine that. Yeah. And maybe it doesn't see it.

It's great. But it can't just be because everyone knows, yeah, they were buddies and friends growing up and all that sort of thing. There's something beyond that. There's a lot to it. One is I think we've also like we have a proven track record to where we'll deliver. But now you also add these variables like it's an unsanctioned match. It's in Canada. It's at the skydome, the Rogers Center.

Yeah. You know. And now the story going into it is different. from the story and going into the last time we wrestled each other. So there's all these variables that go into it. It's not an accident, though.

It's not like some freak occurrence. A lot of work goes into making sure it doesn't get stale. Yeah. But yeah, it is very, like, again, you know, I don't want to come off boastful here, but I am taking, I take a lot of pride in the fact that people are excited for this match.

And even me, you know, I can't speak for Kevin, but I'm really excited for it, really excited for it. And even that's crazy for me to say after wrestling, Kevin, maybe a thousand times or maybe 5,000, if I'm going by the old-timer scale. You know, however number of times we've been in the ring together, I'm still excited for a big match coming up with them. That's kind of crazy. And then it's because as we sit and we get ready for it as fans,

it's Canadian soil and you guys have done this, but we know you guys are going to try and elevate again. I see online, there has to be blood. Now that there's blood, we've got to have some blood. And I don't know how that makes you, how that makes you guys feel when you hear that kind of stuff. But do you feel pressure there? Because yes, people are excited.

But there is now that expectancy to deliver upon. I'm not that worried about it. I'm not, no. Like, sometimes you can't really control. Well, in the dream world, like, look, theoretically, when you get people excited for a match or to pay to see a match of yours, when you get excited, you want them to have some sort of expectations, right? That's where the excitement comes in. Now, if those people's expectations are through the roof or expecting a certain level of, I don't know what, violence or whatever, I'm not really worried about that. I, because again, I go back to the track record.

Like, it'll be good. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, if you don't see a chainsaw in the match, and I'm like, man, I really thought they were going to bust out a chainsaw. You know, like, that's not my problem. It's like Gordon Ramsey. Dinner is going to be good.

You'll enjoy dinner. It's going to be good. Yes, it'll be good. It'll be good. I promise you that. I want to set up the match, but the last thing, this is a fan question. It's the Huluva kick.

I don't know how you do it. Because you're at, you're running at full speed and the foot comes up and it it looks bang on every time has anyone ever said i'm not by the way i'm not taking your haloova kick this is no i've had people kind of be nervous about it yeah um like what do i do yeah yeah i just they can't really move to more than yeah i mean it's kind of a lot of faith but it really is just a kick to the face like i don't There's just a way to do it to where you're not going to injure somebody. Yeah.

But it is, it is ultimately a running kick to the face. So, you know, there's obviously like some craftsmanship or whatever you want to call it goes into it. But it is what it is. Yeah. It's kind of what you see is what you get with that one. Yeah. It's, well, you've mastered. And I would think probably along the way over the years, maybe it's, maybe there's some nights it didn't come off quite the way it was supposed to.

Well, a handful of people have been smoked over the years. Yeah. But, you know, nothing, nothing too serious. Yeah. We man took a good one. We man took a great picture, actually, like a freeze frame picture of the contact. And like his nose is just, you know, completely smooth. He didn't catch him in the side of the face or nothing.

It's just like straight on. Did he know what was coming at that point? Well, I don't think he might have known exactly. when it was coming because maybe he would have turned his head or something like that. But yeah. Yeah. I mean, he. Well, he sold it.

Yeah. He sold it. Well, he took it. Well, he took it. That's the thing. That's right. All right. Let's set up this match. You set it on Raw that this time, you and Kevin, you've had your differences, but this

time was different. The package pile driver, which by the way, I know you've, over the years you've taken it. But was this your first 40-year-old Sammy Zane taking it back to? Yeah. Different ball game. Yeah. Yeah.

It felt things in my spine that I'd never felt taken that move. And, you know, I used to take that move a lot in my early 20s. Yeah. My entire 20s actually was just me taking that move pretty much. Felt very different. Yeah, 40, no question, no question. There's something with Kevin Owens right now. And he is a guy.

He's always got these always on the edge with his temper and all of that. but to look to end your career that way, as a friend, what do you think has gotten into Kevin Owens? I try to see things from other people's point of view. And even like, you know, on TV,

I've been asked a lot about, or, you know, it's been like a thing for my character over the last few months. Like I started with the bloodline reunion or even before that, like just being friends with Jay. And, you know,

not everybody was cool with Jay coming back after he left the bloodline. And there was this whole thing about me being like forgiving or I can't believe you would, you know, it's like a naivete almost. Yeah. People question. So I don't know. It kind of ties into all that in a way where I think it's just like, you know,

I can't believe you would do this for these people, but you wouldn't do this for me. I don't know. But, you know, Kevin's always got his own, I don't know. He's got his own way of looking at things. And you said it when he was at the end of the match against Cody Rhodes. I mean, you were there clearly in defense of your friend. I don't know. Not that it matters now because what's done has been done, but it's too bad.

He couldn't have seen things differently. Well, I mean, now it's just it's time for the fight. You know what I mean? I think the table's set. Now it's just time to, you know, no better place, no better time. Toronto, Skydome. I've got to stop calling it that. It's the Rogers Center.

It's the Skydome. It's the same stadium we watched Raw on in 1999. And what a huge deal that was as a fan as a kid. So now to be going back there, me and him, I don't know. It's pretty, it is special. And I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be wild night for sure. And like they say, these two guys will never be the same again.

I guess you have forgiven and forgotten with other people and with Kevin in the past that a lot of fans wonder. maybe it's come too far. Has too much damage been done, do you think, to ever repair the friendship? Look, I've, I've said before no, and I've been wrong. So I don't know. Maybe I'm just being emotional and I'm saying like, no, no, this is it. This is it for real. And, you know, maybe three, four years past and you kind of start to overlook things. It's just kind of how life is. I feel, but I don't know. I don't want to say, never say never. I've learned that by now. But I don't know. Right now, we've got an issue and it's not to solve it. It'll be solved. It'll be solved. maybe once and for all or maybe not coming up March 1st at the Rogers Center in Toronto,

the old Skydome, Kevin Owens against Sammy Zane at least one more time. We can't wait. Tickets available, Ticketmaster.C.A. Can't wait. Sammy, thanks for doing this, man. It was a lot of time, but a thrill for me. Appreciate it. Thanks very much. Thanks. Appreciate the questions. Thank you. Hey, guys. Thanks for watching. Be sure to check out more of our content right here on the Flames Nation YouTube page. We had a bunch great long-form interviews. You can check out some videos we've done as well outside of the studio. And of course, if you want more writing or merchandise stuff, flamesnation.ca or nationgear.ca. Appreciate you watching.