PARKS’S TAKE: Can Sami Zayn make it to WrestleMania still U.S. Champion? Will he even risk losing it first?

On Smackdown Friday night, Sami Zayn won the United States Championship from Carmelo Hayes, setting Sami up for a WrestleMania showdown with Trick Williams over the title.

Or is it?

Sami now holds the weight of not only the U.S. Title, but the U.S. Title Open Challenge, something that has been passed down from champion to champion over the last year, including Sami himself the last time he held the belt. Sami prided himself on defending the title each week, laying it all on the line. Will he do the same in the lead-up to Mania? There are still three episodes of Smackdown left until Wrestlemania. That’s three opportunities for Sami to lose the title and kiss his Mania opportunity goodbye.

Sami has been desperate to get on the card for that show. You could see the devastation on his face when Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis told Sami there was no room for him on WrestleMania prior to his title win. Sami has been battling inner conflict, born out in his backstage conversations with those above him on the card like Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. There’s a tinge of jealousy there. Being champion heading into Mania would give validation to Sami’s efforts.

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So will he lay that all on the line to continue the U.S. Open Challenge? Or will he recoil, afraid of the title slipping out of his grasp again and with it, his Mania moment? That’s not a very babyface thing to do, but Sami finds himself in a tough spot.

The decision to continue – or not – those open challenges would be a great way to fuel that inner turmoil as we barrel toward Mania.

If Sami does end up deciding to defend the title, it could give him three big victories prior to his match with Williams, victories he needs to reestablish himself as a threat coming off being a little bit sniveling and, in some ways, emasculated by his peers in those backstage exchanges.

I hope this fertile ground is explored by WWE, as opposed to just doing a kind of regular build to Sami vs. Williams. The U.S. Title Open Challenge has been a key part of Smackdown from Sami, to Ilya Dragunov to Hayes. To just toss it aside in favor of telling a different Sami vs. Williams story, when the obvious angle is right there, would be a mistake.

(Greg Parks has written weekly columns for Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter for decades and contributes shorter Takes for PWTorch.com every week. He also appears in a rotation as host of the PWTorch Dailycast and cohost of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast “Tuesday Flagship” episodes. His VIP-exclusive “Greg Parks Outloud!” podcasts are featured weekly on the VIP podcast feed. VIP INFO PAGE.)