Considering he’s fresh off a loss to Cody Rhodes in the main event of SmackDown, Sami Zayn may sound like a strange choice as the 2026 King of the Ring, but he makes more sense for the spot than a vast majority of the active roster on either brand.
Slowly but surely, Zayn has been falling deeper into madness. He lost his United States Championship to Trick Williams at WrestleMania 42 and failed to regain it at Backlash the subsequent match, all the while getting booed despite not doing anything drastically differently.
The WWE audience has seemingly grown tired of Zayn’s babyface booking and has gradually turned him heel before the company could. Zayn leaning into it so heavily has been far and away the most intriguing aspect of SmackDown since ‘Mania, and there will inevitably reach a point where he full-on snaps.
Rhodes, as he almost always is in similar situations, should be on the receiving end of Zayn’s ultimate meltdown because he’s the face of the franchise and Zayn’s jealousy of him will be what sends him over the edge, along with his countless shortcomings. Their SmackDown encounter should have only been a small preview of what more is to come from them this summer.
There’s a story to be told with Zayn resorting to underhanded tactics to win his matches in the King of the Ring tournament and earning another match with Rhodes at SummerSlam, this time with the title actually on the line.