"I will admit that one hurt for sure" - Kevin Owens on WWE not booking him to wrestle at a major event this year
Former Universal Champion Kevin Owens recalled being left off of the Elimination Chamber match card, which took place in his birth country of Canada.
In the main event of the show, his longtime friend and current tag team partner Sami Zayn challenged Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. The Tribal Chief won the bout and retained his title. Although KO appeared after the match to help Sami fend off The Bloodline, he didn't compete in a match of his own at the Premium Live Event.
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani of TNT Sports, Kevin Owens stated that not competing at Elimination Chamber this year was hurtful, but it would've really affected him if it happened a few years ago.
"I will admit that one hurt for sure. It's a sold-out pay-per-view in my hometown and up until that point I would just constantly ask WWE officials/higher-ups why aren't we doing pay-per-views in Montreal and then we got one and I wasn't even on it. So of course that sucked. It didn't [kill me inside] but it would've in the past, but now it didn't. I was just like, 'well, this sucks,'" said Owens. [8:10-8:32]
Kevin Owens on if not having a match at Elimination Chamber annoyed him
Since this year's Elimination Chamber event took place in Montreal, not very far from where The Prizefighter was born, he wanted to have a match on the show.
Kevin Owens said it did annoy him a little bit, but it was hard to stay annoyed because it was a big night for Sami Zayn. He feels that the latter deserved to be in that spotlight.
"Yeah, I mean at most but then also it's hard to be annoyed because on the other side of it was a huge night for Sami and he deserved every bit of it so I was very happy to see that happen, and happy is not even the word, this is the guy, you know, I've talked about this in interviews before but, I came in with John Cena from the get-go, got it, pretty great spots from the spot. Sami came in a bit differently and for a few years was just scratching and crawling to get on the shows. It was a head-scratcher for me because I knew how good the guy was and now everybody knows and it took a little while to get there," said Kevin Owens. [8:32-9:10]
What does this mean for @SamiZayn and @FightOwensFight?
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Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn went on to headline WrestleMania 39 Night One. They dethroned The Usos at the event to become the new Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions.
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If you use any quotes from this article, please credit TNT Sports and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.