While the world is celebrating Ilja Dragunov's incredible victory over Sami Zayn for the United States Championship, the former titleholder is taking a step back to appreciate his eight-week run with "WWE SmackDown's" workhorse title. Zayn took to social media ahead of Friday's episode of "SmackDown" to reflect on his United States title run, which was, according to the man himself, just as memorable as it was great.
"Been reflecting on my run as US Champion," Zayn started his social media post. "One of my favorite things I've done in WWE."
In his post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Zayn posted a collage of all of the opponents he faced during his United States open challenge. Since first laying claim to the United States Championship at the cost of Solo Sikoa, Zayn faced and retained against a variety of contenders over the course of his United States Championship open challenge series, from NXT's Je'Von Evans to "The Never-Seen Seventeen" and United States Open Challenge founder, John Cena. Each opponent was acknowledged with a place in Zayn's photo collection, with a triumphant picture of him with the title positioned in the middle.
"8 weeks, 8 every different opponents, 8 bangers in a row," Zayn continued. "It's hard to do something great. In the age of content, it's even harder to do something memorable. It felt like this was both."
As of publishing, Zayn's post has garnered over 15,000 likes and 340,000 views. Most netizen replies underneath Zayn's post have been largely positive, with many WWE fans acknowledging Zayn's hard work as, as one fan put it, "consistently the best part of "SmackDown."" Other fans encouraged Zayn to begin a world title campaign following the incredible performances he put on during his eight weeks as United States Champion.
"Grateful," Zayn concluded.
