When I was 17 years old, I was given the opportunity to be trained as a wrestler. At the time, I never really thought about making it a career. I only saw it as a chance to do something that I always wanted to do.
— Sami Zayn
Russ Courtnall was my absolute favorite player. Patrick Roy was there, too, of course.
If there's a cause you believe in, go out there, get active, and do it.
I always consider myself Syrian. I just happen to be born in Canada.
I believe in just being yourself, and the whole kit and caboodle comes with it.
Montreal is my home town - I love it to death - but Toronto, I think, might have to be the best market in Canada. From a numbers perspective, it definitely is. The fans are incredible, and every time we go there, it sells out. It's awesome, and the fans are incredible.
The more work you put in, and the more you constantly and consistently give good performances against good opponents and constantly exceed people's expectations, the more you really endear yourself to the crowd. That's how your career takes off - it's just consistency and time.
I have that inherent performer personality.
I'm a Canadian citizen, but I do have a green card.
I've worked in front of crowds of two hundred that sounded like a thousand, and I've worked in front of crowds of five thousand that sounded like two hundred. It really varies with the energy level with any given crowd on any given night.
The game has changed since the '80s, where you could punch and kick and headlock and do one suplex, and that's a 25 minute match.
The heel I want to be is real mouthy, which is fine, but I want to be a guy that can be taken seriously to win the world title.
I hate the word 'annoying!'
When I was a teenager, a friend of mine got a job on a wrestling radio show in Montreal, and he found a local professional wrestler who was able to train us.
Not every magical moment in your career is going to happen on the biggest stage of the year.
Selfishly, it feels great for me to do something that might put a smile on someone else's face.
I'm very much an Arab, although I need to practise my Arabic more.
As a kid growing up in Montreal, I wanted to become either a hockey player or a wrestler. Since my family didn't have a lot of money, my parents never put me in a hockey league because it was so expensive.
Your priorities change when you get older.
Any time I'm donating to charity, I feel it's very daunting.
I think you've still got to try to be good, day-to-day. You see a granny, you hold the door open for her. You just try to do the right thing. I don't know if that makes you a saint or the greatest guy in the world, but trying is a start.
I love hearing positive things; somewhere, way deep down, I'm sure I'm an egomaniac. I guess all performers are, in a way.
If I had to explain what WrestleMania was to someone who's never seen wrestling, never seen WWE, never heard of the concept of WrestleMania, I would show them a five second video clip of The Rock and Hulk Hogan standing motionless in the ring while 70,000 people are jumping up and down.
It's got to be repetition of me over and over again, constantly delivering the goods every time I'm out there. And that's how I'm going to get to where I need to be, which is in an important match at WrestleMania every year.
I've been beat up pretty badly back in my day.
If I can be a positive Arab figure on such a large platform such as the WWE, and become some sort of an inspiration to an Arab kid in Lebanon, Egypt, or Jordan, then that's amazing.
A crowd's a crowd, and to me, it's not so much about the size as much it is the energy we're getting.
Neville and I are big fans of ska. He's actually more into original, Jamaican, skinhead, two-tone ska from England, but I'm more into punk ska - Operation Ivy and stuff Rancid would do.
I'm bad at fishing for information.
I always wanted to be a wrestler when I grew up.
I think fans always felt that I try real hard and I am passionate about what I do.
You have to stand by your beliefs.
I don't want to tell fans what to think or what to believe or whatever, but at the same time, some things just hit you very personally.
I was born in Canada, but both my parents are Syrian - they moved to Canada in the '70s, and I was born in a 100-percent-Arab house.
When I was playing street hockey, I really thought that I had some skills!
If my parents didn't come to Canada in the '70s, I probably wouldn't be living my dream to be a WWE superstar.
Even when you just hear the word 'Syria,' it packs a lot of political connotations.
The thing, in general, about being a good person is just do the right thing as often as possible.
Lifelong wrestling fans who are discovering NXT and being like, 'Wait, this is the kind of wrestling I used to like,' or, 'I like this' - it's succinct. It's an hour long. You've got some great wrestlers, and you've got great storytelling, and it's simple, and it's gritty.
I don't think there's anything that defines WrestleMania more than Hulk Hogan and The Rock standing across from each other and the crowd going ballistic.
I feel like you almost have to have this mentality: wherever you are is the place to be, and any show you're on is better because you are there.
I have been in the ring with Kevin Owens for about 12 years; I'm used to getting beat up.
I do feel, in a lot of ways, that I'm living proof that anything is possible.
The Full Sail crowd, it's a pretty unique and a pretty distinct environment. It's very close quarters and a bit more of what I'm used to from my days on the independents. But the truth is, I sometimes think that it's harder to win over a small crowd sometimes than it is to win over a big crowd.
I just want to win the world title; I don't want to be a guy that Vince McMahon looks at and says, 'Never. We can't.'
I have no pokerface.
I have always loved wrestling and grew up watching it - my earliest memories include watching Hulk Hogan.
I was always a wrestling fan, and being an Arab kid who grew up in Canada, there was no representation for people like me.
Man, it feels great to do anything that might brighten someone else's day.
Sometimes you have to say what's on your mind if it's something that's really important to you.
