The loss of Pat Patterson hit many people in the professional world hard. The former WWE producer and long time employee of the company wasn’t just a legend, but Patterson is credited with inventing the concept for the Royal Rumble.
During his time with the company, he made many friends and left several current and former talent with great memories of him, including Sami Zayn. The current Intercontinental Champion was a guest on Talking Smack, where he revealed some of his memories about the first ever Intercontinental Champion and the important role he played in his WWE career.
“He would sing my praises to everybody and anybody that would listen. He was such a fan of mine in the most humbling sort of way. He really genuinely believed in my ability at a time when I was still trying to make my name in NXT and just kind of trying to prove myself, trying to get an opportunity I could. He was the first one to really, and I mean really, push for me with all the higher-ups, with Vince himself. He was always saying, ‘you got to use this guy’ and whatever. But anyway, that’s just from a professional standpoint.”
“From a personal standpoint, there’s so much that could be said about him because he had a real ‘joie de vivre,’ which is a French term for ‘lust and a love for life’. He truly, like he knew how to live. We would always talk about how he did the Snowbird thing, you know, Summer, he wanted to be in Montreal because Montreal, as you know, is a world-class city in the summer. When it got cold, he wanted nothing to do with it. It was off to Florida. He just had a way about him. We would always talk about delicious food, about the wonderful cities all over America. You know, we had a lot in common and I don’t just have this love for him because of how he spoke up for me professionally. He genuinely had this lust for life that was just so admirable that I will definitely take with me, you know, as a life lesson for years to come. He knew how to live.”
Patterson’s appreciation for Zayn dates back to NXT obviously, and Sami recently took to Twitter to share a memory of Pat Patterson. Pat was a tragic loss in the wrestling world and he will certainly be remembered.
h/t to Fightful for the quote
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