It’s good to be Sami Zayn at the moment, as the long-time WWE veteran finally captured that elusive singles championship at WrestleMania 40, defeating GUNTHER to win the Intercontinental Championship and end GUNTHER’s record-setting reign. Through it all, Zayn has gotten a much-needed boost of support from his wife, Khadijah, who has appeared in the stands cheering Zayn on. 

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While Zayn appreciates the support from his wife and believes she’s helped add an emotional component to matches like his Universal Title bout with Roman Reigns last year, having their relationship become more public is something that has always made him uneasy. That uneasiness hasn’t dissipated with more success, as he revealed during an appearance on the “Gorilla Position” podcast.

“I’ve been extremely private my whole career and my whole life actually,” Zayn said. “But I shielded her specifically from it, because…a) she didn’t sign up for it and b) I just don’t think she’s built for criticism, the kind of criticism that these monsters online sometimes hurl at us, especially the women or whatever. And I just didn’t want to expose her to that. Somehow or another, she ended up kind of involved in the story when we did the match in Montreal…

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“She really did add a dimension to that, a whole other layer, because it was so legitimate. And you were in the building that night, the feelings in the building were very real. It was just unbelievable…So that kind of opened the floodgates. So now she’s been featured once or twice more. But I’m a little apprehensive always because people have been kind towards her. But I just don’t want people to not be kind towards her. Cause that would really hurt me, because I know it would really hurt her.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Gorilla Position” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription