The road to WWE WrestleMania 42 is ongoing, and during it, a fan favorite talent was reportedly set for a high-profile match.
According to Fightful Select, WWE officials tentatively slotted "WWE SmackDown" star Sami Zayn in an Undisputed WWE Championship contest sometime before WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas. The outlet identified the 2026 Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia as one of the possible places for such match to occur, though their sources later emphasized that it would just "likely [be] before WrestleMania."
Earlier this month, reports indicated that plans for "The Show of Shows" and the events leading up to it had undergone several changes, with Drew McIntyre dethroning Cody Rhodes as Undisputed WWE Champion being one of them. As of this writing, it's unknown if Zayn's potential world title shot, which arose as an idea before the creative pivots, was also affected by them.
Interestingly, Zayn is currently in the hunt for a title shot against McIntyre at the Royal Rumble. To secure it, though, he must first overcome the likes of Randy Orton, Damian Priest, and Trick Williams in a fatal-four-way match at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event on January 24. This edition of SNME will take place in Zayn's hometown of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Should Zayn emerge victorious at Saturday Night's Main Event, he will earn his first televised world title match since October 2024, when he unsuccessfully challenged then-WWE World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER on "WWE Raw." Before that, he clashed with "The Visionary" Seth Rollins over the same title in November 2023.
