To all the Sami Zayn haters out there, hear my case as to why he deserves this second run as WWE champion.

Yes, there are more than a few people upset Zayn has the belt for the second time in a year and will now surpass his nine-day first reign after beating Kevin Owens with plenty of help Friday on SmackDown. There are plenty of people who want to see the belt off him as soon as possible and are taking the fact that he has yet to remove CM Punk’s side plates as a sign that it won’t be long until the title is around someone else’s waist. 

The audience is clearly invested in what will inevitably be the next demise of Zayn’s character. 

But isn’t that the point? Isn’t the job of a pro wrestler to make you feel something: love, annoyance, hate, admiration, pity, loathing, whatever it may be? This is the one thing we can always say Sami Zayn has done in his career. He always made us feel something toward him. He’s a master at building it over time.