Sami Zayn says that his match with Cesaro on a 2013 episode of NXT was the day that NXT became a "thing."

The match took place on August 21, 2013 and featured Zayn against Cesaro in a two out of three falls match. Zayn commented on a post from On This Day In WWE on Twitter saying the match essentially helped put NXT on the map.

"At this risk of sounding dramatic or arrogant, this one match changed the industry," Zayn wrote. "This was the day NXT became "a thing." Hard to explain the significance, context, and landscape at the time, but suffice to say it's one of my proudest matches with on of my all-time best opponents."



Zayn signed with WWE in 2013 and was a full-time member of the NXT roster at the time of this match and Cesaro came down from the main roster to work with him in NXT. Cesaro won the match, but helped catapult Zayn to becoming the face of NXT. Sami Zayn won the NXT Championship less than a year after this match with Cesaro.


Zayn debuted on the WWE main roster in 2016 and since then has been tag team champion, Intercontinental Champion, and even won a Slammy Award. Most recently, Zayn was embroiled in a feud with The Bloodline and won the tag team titles with Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 39.