Sami Zayn Recalls Saying AEW during WWE RAW Got An "Unfavorable" Reaction Backstage

In May of 2019 WWE tried out a new Electric Chair Q&A segment on RAW with Sami Zayn (literally sitting in an electric chair) with Corey Graves also in the ring with him. Kayla Braxton and Sarah Schreiber fielded questions from people in the crowd to make things more unpredictable for the WWE Superstar.

During the segment, Zayn said the crowd could ask him about anything — "even AEW."

Zayn recently spoke with Rick Ucchino of Sportskeeda and recalled people backstage not being thrilled with him mentioning the then up-and-coming promotion.

"So it wasn't entirely, entirely off the cuff but it was off the cuff to a certain degree, and the reaction was, uh, let's say unfavorable [Laughs] since the electric chair met its demise that very same week," Zayn said.

Zayn remembered AEW was getting a lot of buzz due to not only an upcoming PPV, but it was right around when they signed a TV deal with TNT. He was fully expecting fans to ask him about WWE's potential rival.

"It was right on everybody's mind," Zayn recalled. "It was super, super fresh and I think they had just announced this TV deal. They had just announced that this wasn't just going to be a pay-per-view. This is going to be a competitor and all this sort of stuff. And they tell me that we're doing this segment where it's legitimately, you know, unplanned questions and anybody could ask anything. So at the time this was the number one topic in the wrestling world. So you kind of expected to be asked about it."

WWE apparently wanted the segment to be — pardon the pun — shocking to fans, but the questions being asked weren't doing it, according to Zayn. Feeling like the segment needed some extra spice, he decided to add it himself.

"What they were going for was that it had a very risky, unpredictable feel to it," Zayn stated. "As I was out there, I was like, this doesn't have these vibes, these questions are too sterile. So I felt like it was upon me, it was incumbent upon me, to sort of make it controversial. And the fact that we're talking about it now, all this time later, you know I hate to say I was right, but I kind of think I was right to do it."

Zayn is set to be involved in tonight's SmackDown Elimination Chamber Match where the winner gets a shot at WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns later in the night. Elimination Chamber begins at 7 pm ET (Kickoff at 6 pm ET).