Sami Zayn comments on WWE keeping politics out of television storylines

Having said that, wrestling has always had a political representation of the zeitgeist of the time. In the ’90s during the Persian Gulf War, we had Sgt. Slaughter with the Iraq stuff. Even prior to that in the 50s we had Nazi villains and stuff like that. Whoever the villains were in the political climate were reflected in the world of pro wrestling.

Now, I think in a strange way, we’re doing a sort of weird anti-reflection reflection wherein we just simply don’t touch politics as a company. Nothing about the political climate is reflected in the product anymore. I think in some ways that a reflection of the society we live in and the de-sensitivity to these things.

But I also think it’s because I think WWE is meant to be like an escape from all that stuff. Especially the more real and the more it is felt on a day to day basis for some people. It’s not an abstract idea when you get into the conversation of terrorists. People are feeling that at the grocery store or whatever, in their day to day life. The potential is certainly there.

So I think you want to go somewhere where you forget about that stuff altogether, and I think that’s what WWE provides now. Politics has become so into the mainstream and has almost turned into an entertainment form in its own right, which I have a lot to say about but I won’t get into that.