At Night of Champions on June 27, Sami Zayn shocked the world when he defeated Cody Rhodes and Gunther to become the Undisputed WWE Champion.
On SmackDown, Rhodes defeated Jey Uso to earn a shot at the title on last night's RAW. However, the American Nightmare was taken out by Gunther, leading to the surprise return of CM Punk (who hasn't been seen since the RAW after WrestleMania and his World Heavyweight Championship loss to Roman Reigns).
The Best in the World defeated Zayn, bringing his surprise title reign to an abrupt end after just 9 days. Now, we have some insights into why that happened, thanks to Dave Meltzer on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio.
"I saw a lot of people upset about it, and it was like, 'Look, this is what it was going to be.' You know that going in," he explained. "They don't really at this point in time, they do this for the undercard titles; they really don't for the two major men's titles. They aren't really passing around belts now."
"They really are in the hands of the people who, the perception is, are the money players, and Sami is not, in their mind, one of those people. He could have been. There was a time when he was, but even then, in their minds, he still wasn't because it's like one of those things where they're still all brainwashed by the cosmetics in a lot of ways, and that certain people are good hands, but they can't be the guy."
"And Sami is one of those guys in their minds that can't be the guy," Meltzer concluded, suggesting that Zayn's title win in Saudi Arabia was little more than a feel-good moment not meant to last.
It's hard not to feel for Zayn, but ultimately, he did win the WWE Championship and now joins that elite group of Superstars, even if it was short-lived. We'll never know what an extended title run would have looked like for him, of course, and all eyes now shift to the Best in the World.
Check out some highlights from last night's RAW below.