-Aaron Zaremski
Olé!, Olé!, Olé!... Olé!...Olé!
No, this week's edition of F.K.A.yfabe is not about the former WCW booker and Anderson brother that is not Arn.
It is about the one, the only, the Underdog from the Underground.
A man who made his mark in NXT and made a far from generic debut, as a participant in the John Cena "U.S. (Championship) Open Challenge" in 2015.
Long before this superstar was lost in the shuffle on RAW and SmackDown: Live, he made a name for himself fighting forever against a friend-turned-foe on the independent scene in the mid-2000s.
I could continue to drop italicized clues about this man, but that would just unmask his identity.
You'll just have to settle for Michael Cole incorrectly calling his Blue Thunder Bomb a Michinoku Driver and vice-versa. Golly, that was one Helluva burn! Just a real BrainBuster! A true Exploder Suplex into th... okay, I'll stop.
Let's go! and finally reveal this week's subject of F.K.A.yfabe: Sami Zayn.
Formerly known as: the Pride of Tijuana, El Generico.
If you journey on over to Zayn/Generico's Wikipedia page, you will see he has quite the long history. Not quite, "It's three in the morning, wow, I did not know the slinky was a ploy created by American's to upend Nazi soldiers in WW2- citation needed" long. But it is long enough to necessitate a honing in on just one specific part of his independent career.
While it would be obvious, and very easy, to just talk about his feud with Kevin Steen/Owens, I will instead choose to focus on his nearly decade long run in Pro Wrestling Guerilla.
The year: 2004.
Cargo shorts? Still a thing, in a big way.
Also, a thing in 2004: the emergence of a little wrestling company in Southern California, called Pro Wrestling Guerilla.
It is crazy to think that, at one point, names like Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, C.M. Punk, Chris Hero, Frankie Kazarian, were all just starting to get notoriety in the wrestling business. And PWG blended those names, with even more obscure names at the time.
None more obscure than a hairy-chested, masked man billed from Tijuana, Mexico, El Generico
Little did fans know, but Generico would go on to have a near decade run with the company that included two PWG World Title reigns, five tag title reigns with four different partners, and maybe, most importantly, he was the winner of the 2011 Battle of Los Angeles tournament.That year he beat Claudio Castagnoli, Willie Mack and Kevin Steen to capture the crown.
All of the above names were the main focal points of feuds that Generico was apart of, while in the promotion.
El Generico was best known for his ability to blend the cruiserweight style, and comedy, with the popularized spot-heavy style of indie wrestling, without sacrificing the art of story-telling and selling.
Always a fan favorite, El Generico was followed by the famous soccer chant, "Olé!, Olé!, Olé!... Olé!...Olé!" wherever he competed.
Very few thought that one of those places would be World Wrestling Entertainment.
Nevertheless, as grapplers like C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan shined a light on the bevy of talent available on the independent scene, guys like Tyler Black, Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero were signed to WWE's then developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling.
Yet, masked man from Tiajuana was still putting on phenomenal matches in PWG, Chikara, and Ring of Honor.
In 2012 FCW re-branded as NXT and by 2013 a un-masked man, baring a striking resemblence to El Generico made his debut.
That man was Sami Zayn.
Soon after becoming a full-fledged member of the NXT roster, Zayn embarked in a feud with Cesaro. Eventually leading to a match at NXT's first special Arrival.
Zayn would then spend the next three years as a staple of the NXT roster, winning the NXT Championship once and most notably, continued his feud with Kevin Owens (Steen), after Zayn captured the NXT title at NXT: R Evolution and he faced a debuting Shinsuke Nakamura at NXT Takeover: Dallas in 2016.
Since leaving NXT, Zayn has seen very little success and very inconsistent booking on the main roster. Originally drafted to RAW during the WWE Draft in the summer of 2016, he found himself moved to SmackDown: Live months later in the "Superstar Shake-up".
His main roster push peaked during his feud with Kevin Owens and his participation in a fatal-four-way for the Intercontinental Title at Extreme Rules in 2016.
As for El Generico, he made a brief appearance in NXT in 2013, under the inconspicuous name of "El Local" during a feud that Zayn was in the middle of with Bo Dallas. Since then, he has not been seen from or heard of.
However, the more and more Zayn is buried on the main roster, the more rumblings there are about possibly seeing El Generico make his return to the indies.
But, for now, Sami Zayn will continue to be a missed opportunity on SmackDown: Live.
While internet wrestling fans have fantasy booked him into feuds that would see him reach his full and deserving potential, one thing is for certain:
It will take a HELLUVA lot of work to see him return to being the pride of anything, once more.
Olé!, Olé!, Olé!... Olé!...Olé!
No, this week's edition of F.K.A.yfabe is not about the former WCW booker and Anderson brother that is not Arn.
It is about the one, the only, the Underdog from the Underground.
A man who made his mark in NXT and made a far from generic debut, as a participant in the John Cena "U.S. (Championship) Open Challenge" in 2015.
Long before this superstar was lost in the shuffle on RAW and SmackDown: Live, he made a name for himself fighting forever against a friend-turned-foe on the independent scene in the mid-2000s.
I could continue to drop italicized clues about this man, but that would just unmask his identity.
You'll just have to settle for Michael Cole incorrectly calling his Blue Thunder Bomb a Michinoku Driver and vice-versa. Golly, that was one Helluva burn! Just a real BrainBuster! A true Exploder Suplex into th... okay, I'll stop.
Let's go! and finally reveal this week's subject of F.K.A.yfabe: Sami Zayn.
Formerly known as: the Pride of Tijuana, El Generico.
If you journey on over to Zayn/Generico's Wikipedia page, you will see he has quite the long history. Not quite, "It's three in the morning, wow, I did not know the slinky was a ploy created by American's to upend Nazi soldiers in WW2- citation needed" long. But it is long enough to necessitate a honing in on just one specific part of his independent career.
While it would be obvious, and very easy, to just talk about his feud with Kevin Steen/Owens, I will instead choose to focus on his nearly decade long run in Pro Wrestling Guerilla.
The year: 2004.
Cargo shorts? Still a thing, in a big way.
Also, a thing in 2004: the emergence of a little wrestling company in Southern California, called Pro Wrestling Guerilla.
It is crazy to think that, at one point, names like Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, C.M. Punk, Chris Hero, Frankie Kazarian, were all just starting to get notoriety in the wrestling business. And PWG blended those names, with even more obscure names at the time.
None more obscure than a hairy-chested, masked man billed from Tijuana, Mexico, El Generico
Little did fans know, but Generico would go on to have a near decade run with the company that included two PWG World Title reigns, five tag title reigns with four different partners, and maybe, most importantly, he was the winner of the 2011 Battle of Los Angeles tournament.That year he beat Claudio Castagnoli, Willie Mack and Kevin Steen to capture the crown.
All of the above names were the main focal points of feuds that Generico was apart of, while in the promotion.
El Generico was best known for his ability to blend the cruiserweight style, and comedy, with the popularized spot-heavy style of indie wrestling, without sacrificing the art of story-telling and selling.
Always a fan favorite, El Generico was followed by the famous soccer chant, "Olé!, Olé!, Olé!... Olé!...Olé!" wherever he competed.
Very few thought that one of those places would be World Wrestling Entertainment.
Nevertheless, as grapplers like C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan shined a light on the bevy of talent available on the independent scene, guys like Tyler Black, Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero were signed to WWE's then developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling.
Yet, masked man from Tiajuana was still putting on phenomenal matches in PWG, Chikara, and Ring of Honor.
In 2012 FCW re-branded as NXT and by 2013 a un-masked man, baring a striking resemblence to El Generico made his debut.
That man was Sami Zayn.
Soon after becoming a full-fledged member of the NXT roster, Zayn embarked in a feud with Cesaro. Eventually leading to a match at NXT's first special Arrival.
Zayn would then spend the next three years as a staple of the NXT roster, winning the NXT Championship once and most notably, continued his feud with Kevin Owens (Steen), after Zayn captured the NXT title at NXT: R Evolution and he faced a debuting Shinsuke Nakamura at NXT Takeover: Dallas in 2016.
Since leaving NXT, Zayn has seen very little success and very inconsistent booking on the main roster. Originally drafted to RAW during the WWE Draft in the summer of 2016, he found himself moved to SmackDown: Live months later in the "Superstar Shake-up".
His main roster push peaked during his feud with Kevin Owens and his participation in a fatal-four-way for the Intercontinental Title at Extreme Rules in 2016.
As for El Generico, he made a brief appearance in NXT in 2013, under the inconspicuous name of "El Local" during a feud that Zayn was in the middle of with Bo Dallas. Since then, he has not been seen from or heard of.
However, the more and more Zayn is buried on the main roster, the more rumblings there are about possibly seeing El Generico make his return to the indies.
But, for now, Sami Zayn will continue to be a missed opportunity on SmackDown: Live.
While internet wrestling fans have fantasy booked him into feuds that would see him reach his full and deserving potential, one thing is for certain:
It will take a HELLUVA lot of work to see him return to being the pride of anything, once more.
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