Sometime in 2004, long before Vince McMahon uttered the words Sami Zayn, and coming from somewhere deep within the unknown Montreal Independent Wrestling scene, American Independent Wrestling fans would get their first taste of Tijuana, Mexico’s hottest export, The Generic Luchador, El Generico. Standing at a very pale, and very slender six foot nothing, with long black generic tights, and what seemed to be an off-brand Great Sasuke mask, El Generico would forge a path into the American Indies through wrestling’s cold heart of Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Somehow, through his undeniable heart and breathtakingly innovative mid-2000s “Super Indy” move-set, a young El Generico was able to win over even the more cutthroat fans. Of course,

UPDATE: 2023/06/18 21:41 EST BY SHAWN S. LEALOS

Since the arrival of El Generico, a very similar wrestler showed up in WWE known as Sami Zayn. But of course, everyone knows that Generico and Zayn are one and the same - or are they? When Zayn eclipsed all expectations and even earned a main event spot at WrestleMania 39, he teamed with his long-time friend and tag team partner Kevin Owens to beat The Usos for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship. If anyone asked Generico when he was rising the ranks in the indies if he ever would main event WrestleMania, there is no way he could have dreamed of this final result. This was a dream come true for El Generico and his fans.

A Generic Luchador In America

El Generico in the indies

Among the first companies to feature the new generation of Canadian talent that included the likes of Kevin Steen and El Generico was the Philadelphia-based Combat Zone Wrestling. CZW had begun to bring down some standouts from Quebec’s IWS after an earlier appearance from IWS’ Sexxxy Eddy, at Tournament of Death 3, had won over the powers that be within the Combat Zone. Generico and Steen were the ones to benefit from this opportunity and Kevin spoke of the opportunity on a 2011 episode of Colt Cabana’s Art Of Wrestling when asked how he broke out of the Montreal scene:

“ The next month CZW decides to book a four way with Eddy and three of the best (IWS) guys. Generico and myself are selected. We went there and did as much f***ing moves as we could in the span of ten minutes. Blew the roof off. Jersey All Pro people were there, they booked us. PWG people were there and they booked us. It just kinda snowballed from there.” -Kevin Steen

Steen and Generico found themselves forever paired together as both partners and opponents during their time on the Independents. As one would break ground in another part of the country, the other would usually soon follow. After their breakout performance in Philadelphia in 2004, the two would spend the next decade proving themselves as one of the best tag teams in the country and would even finally debut (Third Times A Charm) in ROH as a tag team in 2007 after a few attempts from both Steen and Generico to find a spot working for the company. This would lead to successful runs for Generico in assorted promotions in Japan including Dragon Gate and DDT.

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El Generico Was The Numero Uno Babyface In California

via theprowrestlingtruth.blogspot.com

Of the more notable American Independent companies of the time, Super Dragon’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (based out of California) would end up being one of the true homes of El Generico. He would be a mainstay of the dream match promotion until his farewell speech at 2013’s DDT4 Tag Tournament, and despite never speaking more than small amounts of broken English, he would win over the crowd so much so that there are some years that El Generico in a wrestling ring in Reseda, California was as over a babyface as you would find nearly anywhere else on the planet.

Upon the first glance of a young fan of the independents at the time, the least generic thing about Generico was his unmatched, never seen anywhere else before, top-rope brainbuster. The Brainbustaaaaahhhhh! As it was often stylized was done off the top rope from a second rope superplex type situation but with the impact of the opponent's head-on brainbuster being driven into the top turnbuckle. It was something to behold, as unique as the Canadian Destroyer in 2005, if not even rarer.

Generico would find himself the unlikely lovable babyface in front of most crowds and would do well winning over the fans of JAPW, IWA: Mid South, Ring Of Honor, and virtually every single one of the better-known American Independents. Even when looking back with a critical eye to see how poorly the idea of a white guy pretending to be a Mexican born Luchador may have aged over the years, it’s interesting to see Generico be such a huge babyface around the world, especially in southern California which is a crowd with a heavy Mexican presence. While it’s safe to say that perhaps a character like Generico might not work today, one could argue it only worked back then because the man under the mask always takes care to not be offensive in his portrayal.

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El Generico Becomes A Star In Ring Of Honor

Kevin Steen and El Generico in Ring of Honor

While Sami Zayn became one of the most popular wrestlers in the indies, it was his stint in Ring of Honor that caught WWE's attention. He worked in ROH from 2007 through 2009 and then again in 2012. Thanks to their nationwide television deal, Generico was able to turn some heads and both he and Kevin Steen caught the attention of the larger worldwide WWE. Steen and Generico were almost a package deal in ROH, working as both tag team partners and enemies. They won the ROH Tag Team Championships in 2008, and then it was Steen turning on Generico that propelled him into the main event where Steen won the ROH World Championship. It was all because of El Generico and the feud that started between them that Steen proved himself as a main event solo talent. It was also the swan song for the Generic Luchador.

El Generico Becomes Sami Zayn - And A Main Event Player

El Generico & Sami Zayn

After his last ROH run, 2013 would see the brain behind the Generic Luchador sign a WWE Contract, eventually unmasked and rechristened Sami Zayn, and El Generico himself would be said to be going back to Mexico to help run the orphanage that had been founded in his name. Zayn would find himself stealing the spotlight early on with one of NXT’s first big breakout matches of the Black and Gold “work-rate” era in a two out of three falls contest against Cesaro. He was also involved in Shinsuke Nakamura's first WWE match in NXT, another five-star encounter. The rest is history.

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Sami won the NXT Championship, only to have Kevin Steen show up, rechristened as Kevin Owens, and once again the two men were interconnected as Owens betrayed his friend and then won the NXT title for himself. Zayn moved on to the main roster, where he won the Intercontinental Championship, eliminated Brock Lesnar from a Royal Rumble, and then shockingly joined Roman Reigns in The Bloodline. That is where Zayn surpassed everything that El Generico ever dreamed was possible. Zayn became a WWE main event star.

While El Generico was considered a terrible promo during his indie days, Sami Zayn started cutting promos that had the fans eating out of his hands. He ended up going from a lackey to Roman Reigns to a man that the fans wanted to see turn on Roman and somehow beat him for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship. While it never happened, Zayn still got his chance to main-event WrestleMania and win tag team titles on the biggest show of the year. In a moment no one saw coming, Michael Cole referenced El Generico during his WrestleMania broadcast, and the Generic Luchador finally reached the top of the professional wrestling industry.