Sami Zayn defends the Gingerbread Man storyline: “I thought that was all a good piece of business”

A couple of weeks ago — I think these may have even been back-to-back weeks, I get the timeline messed up sometimes in my head — there was the week with Trick and Lil Yachty where I came out with the gingerbread man. I ended up being under the outfit, and I attacked them with a cane and all that. I thought that was great.

Then the following week, I just had the gingerbread man mannequin in the ring, and then beat up the gingerbread mannequin. So in both cases, a gingerbread man is kind of — I don’t want to say the focal part of it — but kind of, right? There’s this serious WrestleMania program for a United States Championship that involves a gingerbread man. On paper, that sounds kind of silly.

But the week we did it where it was me under the suit, I’m dancing, and then I clocked those guys — I thought that was great. Then the following week with the mannequin, it felt a little bit more lifeless to me, not as great, maybe a little silly. I don’t know. It’s kind of like week to week, and it’s all in execution.

So I don’t think the concept of involving a gingerbread man on its own is ridiculous, because this is pro wrestling and we do all kinds of fun things that maybe, if you were on the internet scrolling Twitter or whatever and saw a clip of guys in a ring with a gingerbread man, you’d be like, ‘What?’ But in the world of wrestling, there’s context and it kind of makes sense. Sometimes these things get really over, actually.

So I don’t think the concept of the gingerbread man by itself is ridiculous or silly. It’s all in execution on a week-to-week basis. But I thought that week where the gingerbread man showed up with the bus, was dapping up Trick, had his own locker room, and I’m dancing and having all this fun — I’m just part of the celebration because the gingerbread man is there to troll me, essentially, and make fun of me.

Then it turns, and I whacked them with a cane, and I broke the cane on Yachty’s back. That cane was legitimately made of — I don’t know — oak or something. It was so hard. I don’t know how it broke, but you know what I’m saying? I thought that was all a good piece of business, and it was all fun.

So I don’t look at things like a gingerbread man and dismiss them. I just think it’s all in how you execute it, and whether you put your best foot forward and commit. When you commit, you can make things good if you’re good. And I work with a lot of really good people.”