Joseph Staszewski Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn can’t be looked at the same after stunning WWE championship moment By Joseph Staszewski Published July 1, 2026, 3:53 p.m. ET Sami Zayn after winning the Undisputed WWE Championship during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena on June 27, 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. WWE via Getty Images Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes may have to be viewed differently following the events at Night of Champions — at least for right now.
By having Zayn not actually turn heel, he was able to live up to being the “last real good guy,” thus changing how we should perceive his character if that remains the case. Sure, there was some jealousy toward the “Golden Boy” Rhodes, but now it feels like it stems from the few shortcuts the “American Nightmare” took — something Zayn often found hard to do — and the help he received from friends and maybe the company itself along the way that went properly unappreciated at times.
Despite that inner conflict and his complaining, Zayn has generally done the right things, even if it didn’t always work perfectly. He stopped Gunther from screwing Rhodes out of the WWE championship on SmackDown. Zayn, as special guest referee, took it a little too far with his interference and fast count that kept Rhodes champion at the time and led to their triple threat match.
But he was justified, since Gunther put his hands on him during the match. Zayn even won the championship clean — no cheating or shortcut — by countering the Cross Rhodes into a pin in favorable territory in Saudi Arabia. There was nothing heel about it. It was a babyface moment.
