Sami Zayn discusses phoniness in professional wrestling.
Professional wrestling may be a scripted art, but real-life emotions can sometimes seep into the live action. Behind the curtain, wrestlers are human beings subject to many of the same trials and tribulations that normal society members face. As such, it’s possible they may “phone in” their in-ring performances every once in a while for various reasons. According to Sami Zayn, most viewers can see right through it, though.
In a recent interview with Whiskey Ginger, Zayn gave his take on “phoning it in.” While Zayn always tries to put forth his best effort, he recognizes that not everyone has that same mentality. Fans, and humans in general, can also generally detect when someone isn’t being 100% authentic or enthusiastic.
“Wrestling’s a very funny thing because, and I’m sure comedy again, there’s got to be an overlap here, but wrestling’s a very interesting thing. Even if you have fans that are not super smart to the business, I feel like humans in general, it teaches you about a human quality, which is this innate ability to sus out phoniness,” Zayn said. “Which I think is like a human survival mechanism. So, I think even like, not to handwave people here, but even stupid people can sense when something’s phony. You don’t have to be smart to know somebody’s a phony or a liar.”
“Of course. You’re just like, ‘I’m not buying this.’ So in wrestling, that’s why it’s so hard sometimes to really, really get it right sometimes. Because if you’re trying something that’s not you, fans will kind of sus it out. Because, it just doesn’t click and maybe they can’t articulate it. Maybe you can’t articulate it because you’re still trying to figure it out, but it ain’t working. And the reason is like it’s an unspoken thing. And again, maybe they can’t even articulate it, but it’s like, I’m just not buying it. This ain’t real.”
RELATED: Kevin Owens And Sami Zayn: It’s Hard To Articulate How Much WrestleMania 39 Meant To Us
If you use this transcription, credit WrestleZone and link back to this post.
