Sami Zayn has looked back on one of the most unconventional WrestleMania matches in recent WWE history, describing his Anything Goes encounter with Johnny Knoxville at WrestleMania 38 as one of the personal favorites of his career.
Four years after Zayn and the Jackass star brought their escalating rivalry to AT&T Stadium, the match remains memorable for its mixture of comedy, spectacle and punishment. It included a fire extinguisher, a taser, trash cans, tables, tongs and the oversized mouse trap that ultimately kept Zayn down for Knoxville’s winning pinfall. While it can be easy to remember the bout primarily for its wild props and celebrity involvement, Zayn sees a more traditional wrestling structure underneath the chaos.
Speaking on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, Zayn explained why the pairing worked so specifically. In his view, the contest could not simply have been recreated by replacing him and Knoxville with two other performers.
“At that time, that match could only be Sami Zayn versus Johnny Knoxville,” Zayn said. “You couldn't put two other people in there and have the same match. That's kind of what I liked about it.”
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The statement gets to the central appeal of the WrestleMania 38 attraction. Zayn was already deeply involved in a character-driven program with Knoxville, one that leaned into Zayn’s self-seriousness and growing frustration with the celebrity outsider. Knoxville, meanwhile, was not presented as a conventional wrestler suddenly expected to execute a standard WWE move set. His identity came from the reckless stunt-comedy world associated with Jackass, and the match built its entire framework around that distinction.
Jackass Stunts Served as Knoxville’s Offense
Zayn said the weapons and gadgets were not random additions to an Anything Goes stipulation. Instead, they performed the same purpose that signature attacks and familiar sequences would serve in a more orthodox singles match. Knoxville’s “moves” were Jackass-style stunts, allowing the celebrity guest to operate in a way that fit both his public persona and the story WWE had established.
“It’s easy to watch it and reduce it to just, oh, there was a bunch of weapons and stuff, but in fact it was just a wrestling match,” Zayn said. “Those gadgets, that's his signature offense, because his signature offense is from the Jackass world. He doesn't have wrestling moves. He has Jackass stunts. So the moves were replaced by the Jackass stunts, but they still serve the same function.”
That approach helped give the match its own internal logic. A fire extinguisher or a taser was not being used merely for a visual reaction; it was part of Knoxville’s means of fighting an experienced WWE competitor. The same held true for the bizarre tools and traps that entered the match as Zayn attempted to outlast a rival who was willing to weaponize the style that made him famous.
Knoxville also had support from several Jackass co-stars, whose presence added another layer to the spectacle. They assisted in bringing out the gigantic mouse trap that would become the decisive element of the finish. After enduring the stunt-heavy onslaught, Zayn was caught by the trap and pinned, giving Knoxville the victory on WrestleMania’s grand stage.
The finish was especially fitting for a match based around Zayn’s increasingly exasperated attempts to deal with an opponent who refused to play by standard wrestling expectations. Knoxville was never going to beat Zayn through a conventional technical exchange. The attraction depended on the WWE veteran being forced to survive the unpredictable escalation of the Jackass universe, and the mouse trap delivered a conclusion that was as ridiculous as it was memorable.
A Match Built Around a Specific Rivalry
Celebrity appearances at WrestleMania can take many forms, from brief cameos to heavily promoted matches. Zayn’s comments underline why the Knoxville match connected as more than a novelty. WWE did not ask Knoxville to become a standard in-ring performer overnight, and it did not ask Zayn to abandon the personality and instincts that made his role in the feud effective.
Instead, the match placed both men in a setting that amplified their strengths. Knoxville brought a recognizable history of stunt-based physical comedy, a willingness to take punishment and the help of his fellow Jackass personalities. Zayn brought veteran timing, his ability to make every indignity feel consequential, and the complete conviction of a man who believed he was being subjected to an outrage.
That balance is why Zayn still speaks positively about the performance even while maintaining, in character, that he continues to “hate” Knoxville. The longtime WWE star has not softened the rivalry from a kayfabe perspective. At the same time, he has acknowledged that Knoxville was exactly the right opponent for that WrestleMania scenario.
For Zayn, the success was rooted in the match’s singular nature. The tools of the match made sense because of who Knoxville was. The reactions worked because Zayn was the person tasked with reacting to the madness. And the story was effective because both competitors entered the contest with sharply defined roles that audiences could understand immediately.
Zayn Felt Confidence and Doubt Before the Curtain
Even with that concept in place, Zayn recalled that he experienced a familiar wave of uncertainty shortly before walking through the curtain at WrestleMania 38. The performer said he can reach a point in the creative process where he has mentally assembled a match and feels convinced the audience is about to see something special. But confidence does not eliminate doubt, particularly when the moment is as prominent and unusual as a WrestleMania celebrity match.
“This is gonna sound cocky for sure, but I'll have these moments,” Zayn said. “Let's say I've put something together, I've thought of it, and I've reviewed it a bunch of times in my head, where I'm just like, oh my God, these people have no idea what's about to hit them.”
Zayn clarified that his feeling was not simply arrogance. It was the conviction that the match had been constructed to reach a broad audience. He believed its combination of wrestling, physical comedy and spectacle could connect even with people who might not normally consider themselves wrestling fans. Yet he also admitted that the confidence was accompanied by a fear that the audience could react in the opposite way.
“I’ll go, this is bulletproof, there’s no way this is not going to get them,” Zayn said. “But then there is self-doubt.”
That uncertainty lasted almost until the moment he entered the arena. Zayn said he moved back and forth between believing the match could win over anyone in attendance and worrying over how it would be received. The stakes were considerable: WrestleMania is WWE’s biggest annual event, and a match so far outside the usual in-ring template needed to land with its intended audience.
In retrospect, the bout has maintained a favorable reputation among many WWE fans. Its strongest moments were built on escalation, but the action also relied on the audience understanding Zayn’s mounting disbelief and Knoxville’s refusal to be constrained by conventional rules. The comedy would not have worked without stakes, and the stunts would not have mattered without Zayn making every setback feel like a personal disaster.
Where the Match Fit on WrestleMania 38 Night Two
Zayn vs. Knoxville took place on the second night of WrestleMania 38 in April 2022 at AT&T Stadium. The card featured major title matches and high-profile attractions throughout the evening, placing the Anything Goes contest in front of one of WWE’s largest audiences of the year.
Bobby Lashley’s singles match with Omos came immediately before Zayn and Knoxville. Their bout was followed by a fatal four-way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, with Sasha Banks and Naomi facing Carmella and Queen Zelina, Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley, and Natalya and Shayna Baszler.
Later that night, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar met in the main event in a Winners Takes All match with the WWE Championship and Universal Championship on the line. Against that backdrop of championship stakes and established WWE rivalries, Zayn and Knoxville offered a distinctly different type of WrestleMania presentation.
Now the Undisputed WWE Champion, Zayn can point to a career filled with very different kinds of high-pressure performances. His reflection on Knoxville illustrates the value he places on matches that fully commit to their premise. WrestleMania 38 was not designed to look like every other singles contest, and Zayn believes that was precisely why it succeeded.
The encounter remains a reminder that wrestling’s most effective big-event matches do not always depend on a standard formula. In Zayn vs. Knoxville, the story, personalities and signature offense all came from the unusual collision between WWE and Jackass. For Zayn, that collision produced a match that could only have belonged to those two men—and one he still counts among the best experiences of his career.
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Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.