"You Did This To Yourself": A thread on @SamiZayn v. @WWEDanielBryan and the intensity of the empty arena.

In an interview done after WrestleMania was taped but before it aired, Sami says he actually liked the empty arena match, because it gave him a chance to have a "laser focus" on the match. He describes it as "intense."

The lack of crowd noise emphasized the heavy thuds as Daniel literally slapped Sami in the face with the fact that he's chosen not to be a wrestler but a "nobody," that he won this title not by *wrestling,* but by kicking someone being held down by others.

Even without commentary mentioning it, in the silence you can hear Sami weeping and whispering "please" as he realizes he's about to lose his title to Daniel.

When he finally lashes out with a clothesline--an actual wrestling move, even if one of the most basic--you can hear a wild mix of emotions in his weird keening laugh after. He's in pain from doing the move on unaccustomed muscles, but totally exhilarated to have done it at all.

But he can't keep the momentum going. He's given up so much, he has no other moves to do, and is reduced to pleading as we can hear Daniel quietly, almost conversationally, explain the worst part: that Sami chose of his own free will to abandon wrestling.

But there's a tiny flash of hope at the end: as Daniel descends from the turnbuckle, Sami scrambles up and hits a desperate Helluva Kick on the fly, instinctively. Wrestler's instincts! He squeaks out the win--and maybe more importantly, for just a second, he *wrestles.*