Dax Harwood and Sami Zayn are very good friends, but it didn’t start out that way when they first met in WWE NXT.
On the latest episode of FTR with Dax Harwood, the subject of SmackDown’s Sami Zayn came up, and Harwood put the talented performer over while also telling a hilarious story about the first time they met and Zayn rubbed him the wrong way.
“It is, but also it’s not. Because Sami, unapologetically, Sami is very detail oriented. And he’s a stickler for the things he does the same as me. He’s just less abrasive than I am,” Dax Harwood said. “So sometimes he can get a reputation because of that, because some people are like, ‘Oh, that’s not that important. Don’t think about that.’ But to him, it is important.
“So in his mind, he could have always been there, and I think as well, I mean, Sami and I, we’re very good friends, and he traveled with us a few times one of my favorite traveling partners too, but I knew the drive and determination he had from the beginning, I mean, I did not like him when I first met him.
“We had our tryout together in June of 2012. And I’ve told him this story. But some issues happened and we were all in a hotel together, and cops came and started knocking on our doors. All of our doors. And he and I almost simultaneously opened the door at the same time. And he said, ‘Do you know where this guy is?’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t know where this guy is’ and he said, ‘Well, you need to find out where he is.’ And he slammed the door. And I’m like, ‘This motherf**ker.’ You know what I mean?
“Like you don’t tell me what to do. I don’t care if you’ve been Ring of Honor champion or whatever; you don’t tell me what to do. So I had a bad taste in my mouth. Oh, and then when we both got hired, we were all out to lunch with a couple of other people. And we were talking or whatever. And Sami was like, ‘You know who really surprised me that they got hired?’ Everyone’s like, who and he looked right at me and said, ‘You. I’m really surprised you got hired,’ and I was like this — he doesn’t have a f**king filter! And so we had words there, whatever.”
Harwood believes that while Sami Zayn has a reputation when you first meet him, it comes down to being passionate. The All Elite Wrestling star believes if anyone can main event WrestleMania and make the fans believe in him throughout the process, it would be him.
“But he does have a bit of a reputation when you first meet him, I think, but that’s because he’s so passionate man, just like me he’s so passionate about it. So I think he’s finally being given the opportunity to do what he’s always been able to do. That above talent is opportunity as long as you get that opportunity, man. And you believe in yourself, and you’ve got the talents to do it. You can do it and if he wants to main event WrestleMania and make these people believe if there’s one person in this world who can do that, it’s him.”
READ MORE: Sami Zayn Could Be World Champion, But He’s Not Sure He’s ‘The Face Of WWE’ Material
What do you make of Dax Harwood’s comments? Have you been enjoying Sami Zayn’s WWE run over the past year? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the FTR Podcast with a link back to this article for the transcription.
