WWE Star Sami Zayn Explains How Foray Into Stand-Up Comedy Began

SummerSlam weekend promises to be a busy weekend for WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn, and not just because he'll be defending his title for the second straight PLE against Bron Breakker. It's also because Zayn will be doing a comedy show, "Sami Zayn & Friends Do Cleveland" on August 2 in Cleveland's Agora Theater, the second straight comedy show Zayn has done on a PLE weekend following his performance in Toronto before Money in the Bank.

During an interview with Wrestling Inc., Zayn discussed how his interest in comedy evolved from the performance aspect of wrestling over his career. The opportunity to explore a career as a comedian, however, only came up recently.

"Comedy is something I was always interested in," Zayn said. "The comedic side of wrestling has always appealed to me. I've done a lot of that throughout my career. And then the opportunity just sort of came up not long ago when I got sort of an outside manager, like an L.A. agent manager type guy. 

"And it's just something he saw in me and he found an opportunity for me to be a part of this really big comedy festival called Netflix is a Joke. And it being off the heels of the announcement that WWE would be partnering with Netflix, I thought 'This could be an interesting fit.' So I did it. Well, I agreed to it rather, and then I had to actually come up with the hard part, which is doing it and coming up with the show."

While Zayn admitted it was challenging to keep coming up with routines, he admitted that comedy had become addictive to him following the first show, leading to the show in Toronto, the show in Cleveland next week, and possibly even more shows down the line.