Sami Zayn was honoured to be involved in Jamie Noble’s final match (Picture: WWE)
Sami Zayn hailed Jamie Noble as an ‘unsung hero’ in WWE as the wrestling veteran appeared in his retirement match over the weekend.
The former Cruiserweight Champion, who has worked with the company’s top stars since becoming a producer in 2009, continued to wrestle into 2015 and he had his official final match on Sunday in his hometown of Charleston, West Virginia.
With his family in attendance on the front row, Jamie ‘By God’ Noble teamed up with Braun Strowman, Ridge Holland and Butch to take on The Bloodline members Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn and The Usos.
The match ended when Noble hit Zayn with his signature double underhook powerbomb for the win, much to the delight of the live crowd.
After the match, the Master Strategist broke character to pay tribute to him in front of the fans in attendance, and he later reiterated his kind words on social media.
Sharing a black and white photo of Noble backstage, he noted that ‘very few’ people will realise how much the 45-year-old star has ‘contributed’ to the wrestling world.
He wrote: ‘An emotional night. I’m humbled & honored to have had the privilege of sharing the ring with Jamie Noble tonight in his final match. Very few actually know how much Jamie has contributed to this industry.
‘One of the great minds for the business & an unsung hero at @WWE. Grateful.’
Speaking before the bout, Noble, who trained with Drew Gulak and William Regal’s son Charlie Dempsey before his farewell match, insisted he wanted his legacy to be the way he has helped ‘everyone’.
Asked how he wants to be remember, he told WWE’s Byron Saxton: ‘I paid it forward. I tried to help everybody, I tried to be a good coach. Tried to be a mentor. Just try to teach and live through them.
‘I love helping Seth [Rollins] and Finn [Balor]. I just want to be remembered as the guy who passed it along and helped everybody as much as I could.’
Meanwhile, Zayn previously heaped praise on Noble for his work backstage, in particular when it came to the ending of the TLC match at Clash of Champions in 2020, which saw the Honorary Uce beat Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles to win the Intercontinental Championship.
in an innovative way, with Styles handcuffed to the ladder, and Hardy similarly cuffed with one end going through his ear tunnel in an incredibly inventive moment.
He exclusively told Metro.co.uk at the time: ‘I wish I could take all the credit for that, but actually Jamie Noble’s a real genius. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He was a producer for the match and he helped concoct some of that.
‘A lot of the credit goes to him! A lot of it comes down to execution as well. I’m not just talking about the performance side of it, but the cameras, getting the cameras right – because a lot’s going on in a very short time.’
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The former Cruiserweight Champion beat The Bloodline in his hometown.
