Sami Zayn trying to dip his toes into outside WWE projects 'a little bit'

In addition to competing for WWE, Sami Zayn is attempting to pursue some other projects outside of the ring.

Zayn announced earlier this week that he'll be presenting a comedy show in Los Angeles next month as part of this year's Netflix is a Joke festival. Titled "Sami Zayn & Friends," the show is taking place on Saturday, May 11.

While being interviewed by The Ringer Wrestling Show in advance of WrestleMania, Zayn said he's hired a manager and an agent for non-WWE projects.

"I recently kind of got like a manager and an agent for outside WWE-type stuff," Zayn said. "So - trying to dip my toes into that world a little bit."

Zayn said comedy and acting are things he's always thought he had a knack for. In recent years, he's been able to flex those chops on WWE television.

"And so I thought, well, let's see what's going on outside of WWE TV. And even - I think the mentality within the company with regards to how they approach talent wanting to do outside stuff [has] really changed as of late, for the better in my opinion," Zayn said. "So we'll see. That's just talking about like the outside opportunity with the Netflix is a Joke stuff."

Zayn doesn't know if the comedy show will just feature stand-up. He's had the idea to make it a variety show with a monologue, interviews, and sketches.

"To be honest, I agreed to the show with no - I had no show," Zayn admitted.

Zayn's manager approached him about the show, and Zayn agreed to do it without having a plan in place for what he was going to do.

"So now I'm in the process of cooking all that stuff up. And it's really exciting - it's really exciting to get creative about something that's not just like the angles or the matches or whatever," Zayn said. "Having said all that, I still do get very invested in the creative process when it comes to the storytelling [in WWE]."

At night one of WrestleMania 40 this Saturday, Zayn is challenging Gunther for the Intercontinental title. Gunther has been champion for more than 650 days leading into WrestleMania. It's the longest Intercontinental title reign in WWE history.