Top 3 best matches in Sami Zayn's United States Championship Title run

Overview

• Sami Zayn remained the United States Champion for 49 days, where he had a title defense on every week
• The star wrestler was a great fighting champion and had the best US Title reign since John Cena in 2015
• His matches against Cena, Je'Von Evans, and a returning Ilja Dragunov were some of the highlights of his run

Sami Zayn's fantastic United States Championship run came to an end after being the champion for 49 days. The star wrestler followed the footsteps of John Cena and was a workhorse champion, defending the title on every Friday through his US Championship Open Challenge, replicating what the Leader of the Cenation Army was able to do with the title back in 2015.

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Sami held on to the title for just 7 weeks, yet had the best US Title reign since Cena in 2015. He defended his title against the 17-time world champion, Carmelo Hayes, Aleister Black, Je'Von Evans, Rey Fenix, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Ilja Dragunov. All of those matches were great and became the highlight of the Blue Brand, thereby successfully elevating the title.

Top 3 best matches in Sami Zayn's United States Championship Title run

Je'Von Evans

Je'Von Evans emerged as one of the challengers for Sami's title. It marked the main roster debut of the NXT star who has been looked at as the future of the industry. As expected, the match was a banger and the youngster was able to showcase what he has got to offer as an in-ring performer.

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The title match acted as a medium for Je'Von's introduction on the main roster. He also went on to appear on the Blue Brand a week later. While Zayn claimed a win to defend his title through Blue Thunder Bomb, Evans had proved his worth. Hence, the match was beneficial for both the wrestlers.

Ilja Dragunov

Ilja Dragunov was out of action for over a year due to an ACL tear. Before his return, The Miz interfered and slandered Sami's US Title reign, before Carmelo attacked him from behind. That's when Ilja's music hit and the Mad Dragon returned as the Challenger for the US Title. The duo had some great spots and entertained the fans.

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The two wrestlers got enough time to wrestle and produced a great match. Ilja's rage was visible in the match and showed no run rust whatsoever. During the match, Solo Sikoa distracted Sami, which helped Dragunov to win the title. It marked the end of Sami's excellent title reign and a fine return for Ilja.

John Cena

John Cena appeared for his last appearance on SmackDown in Chicago and was confronted by Zayn, who asked his permission to start the US Title Open Challenge similar to his 2015 formula. Cena was glad to agree. Sami wanted John to be his first challenger, which led to the first title defense.

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Both delivered a great match which turned out to be an instant classic. Cena paid homage to the likes of Edge, Kurt Angle, Kevin Owens, CM Punk, and others in the match. The match, however, ended in a disqualification, as Brock Lesnar interfered and delivered an F5 to both Sami and Cena.