Sammy Zayn isn't revealing how much time he has left, but the 41-year-old is under no illusions about where he is in his career.
Speaking with Witty Whittier this week, Zayn expressed his gratitude for still being in the position he is in, while admitting that the end of his in-ring run is closer than the beginning.
"I remember being on a European tour several years ago and thinking, 'I don't know how many more of these there really are.' When you're in it, you feel like it's going to go on forever,'' Zain said. “It's like when you're in high school, you feel like those years are going to last forever. But then, when you're an adult, and you're 10-15 years out of high school, you're like, 'Man, high school was nothing.' This is a shock in your life.
"So I've been fortunate that my time in WWE and this business has been more than a blip. But I realize this time will probably end in the next — I don't want to put too many years on it, but definitely closer to the end than the beginning. So I'm still very, very grateful to be a part of it. It's not meaningless to me. It's not meaningless to me. It's great."
Sami Zayn calls WrestleMania 42 'weird'
Zayn also reflected on WrestleMania 42, describing the event as a "weird" atmosphere for several reasons. His character was in an unusual place on the show, with fan reactions beginning to turn negative, making his position less defined than it usually was at the time of WrestleMania. He lost the United States Championship to Trick Williams at the event.
Zayn said, "At the time of WrestleMania my character was a little more undefined than it had been in years." "Normally, I go into Mania, and I know exactly where I am and what I'm doing. This year, it's like this character shift and this big change going on at the same time with the tricks kind of increasing and I'm getting these - I would say polarizing reactions, but now it's started to veer in the other direction where I don't like.
"And I'm like a character saying, 'What did I do here? Why is this happening?' And all that kind of stuff. Week-to-week, audience-to-audience are all different, so it felt a little less reassuring,” he said. "Then the atmosphere around WrestleMania this year was a little strange, like the last minute addition of Pat McAfee. There were a lot of things that felt a little strange about this year's WrestleMania."
