Vince Russo Is Off-Base with Recent Sami Zayn Comments

Vince Russo doesn't see a star when he looks at Sami Zayn; he sees the next Dean Malenko. 

Zayn will prove him wrong. While the Montreal native doesn't fit the typical WWE mold, Zayn has shown he can connect with the crowd like few others. WWE believes in him, and a growing number of fans do as well.

Russo isn't in that group. He instead smacked the beehive that is the Internet Wrestling Community when he offered his evaluation of Zayn.

The former member of WCW, WWE and TNA's creative teams wrote on Chair Shot Reality, "Sami Zayn is NOT a television star—nor—will he be anytime soon. Sami is an exceptional wrestler on a wrestling show, and the only people who care about him are those diehard wrestling fans who are looking for 5-star matches that the massive don't give a !@#$% about."

He also referenced Raw's low ratings as evidence to support his point. 

Because of his experience in the business, his part in WWE's most successful era and his controversial booking decisions, Russo's words don't disappear into the blogosphere. They echo. And this time around, what rang across the Internet was off-base. 

Russo is being too dismissive and drawing premature conclusions.

Credit: WWE.com

The numbers for Monday's Raw were indeed bad. ProWrestling.net notes that the show pulled in just a 2.55 rating.

That's not a Zayn problem; it's a systemic one. Raw has been sluggish, to be kind, since WrestleMania. It has felt like the writers have been half-assing it. It's no wonder that viewership is headed in the wrong direction. 

If the show sucked for three weeks straight, why would I tune in the next time around? 

Remember too that the SmackDown from April 30 earned year-low numbers, according to Pro Wrestling Torch. Zayn can't be blamed for that drop; he wasn't on the show.

And just how many all-time greats made an imprint on the ratings in their first one-on-one match on Raw? Russo is quick to say that Zayn is not on Steve Austin's or The Rock's level, but neither of those guys began their WWE careers on fire.

Austin debuted as The Ringmaster after years of WCW not believing him to be marketable. Note the absolute lack of reaction when Austin enters the ring:

The Rock's first stretch with the company saw him receive "Die, Rocky, Die!" chants despite being a babyface.

Besides, to compare Zayn with those Hall of Famers at this point isn't fair. This is just his first chapter; those men already wrote their books. To say Zayn is no Rock or Austin is like a scout shrugging at a slugger homering in his first at-bat and saying, "Meh. He's good, but he's no Hank Aaron."

Zayn killed it in his debut despite nursing a bad shoulder, and it wasn't just the "diehard wrestling fans who are looking for 5-star matches" who cared. As BuzzFeed points out, Zayn was trending worldwide on Twitter, apparently to the confusion of One Direction fans.

And folks within the business chimed in, too.

Former NXT trainer Bill DeMott sees a promising future ahead for Zayn:

Triple H compared Zayn's loss to one Cena suffered in his debut against Kurt Angle:

The COO is of course a company man, but he didn't whip out the Cena parallel for Fandango, Adam Rose or Xavier Woods. He clearly sees something special in Zayn.

As Pro Wrestling Torch noted, Triple H spoke about Zayn in a conference call late last year and compared him to Ricky Steamboat in terms of how he draws people in with his character.

The Game is right. Zayn's aren't just work-rate masterpieces; they are works of theater. That will pull fans in, casual and diehard alike. Zayn isn't out there just doing great moves and being technically sound. His matches are stories, and for the most part captivating ones.

Beyond that, he has a presence that has made him successful at every place he has gone throughout his career. People are drawn to him. The "Ole!" chants will only grow once more fans get to know him.

It's not just a small subset of fans who foresee big things for him. Hall of Famer Jim Ross, for one, is in Zayn's camp.

Of Zayn, Ross wrote on his blog, "Keep an eye on NXT talent Sami Zayn. He's a keeper."

This is the right attitude. Zayn has a high, high ceiling. Whether he reaches that or not, it's smart of WWE to see if it indeed has a star in the making.

The company is wise to infuse new blood into the product. And Zayn is one of the members of that group who should have fans most excited. To question his ability to be a star now is jumping the gun and misguided.

The bigger Zayn's name becomes, the more crow Russo will have to eat.