Kevin Owens Says It “Hurt” Not Having Match At Elimination Chamber In Montreal

To say that Kevin Owens was disheartened to not have a match at WWE Elimination Chamber earlier this year would be an understatement.

Elimination Chamber emanated from Montreal, Quebec and was main-evented by the much-anticipated singles match between Roman Reigns and former Bloodline member and “honorary Uce” Sami Zayn.

The match took place in front of a white-hot pro-Zayn crowd that was elated that a local hero who had wrestled for years on the Canadian and American independent circuit was getting such a rare opportunity in a WWE main-event setting.

But noticeably absent from the event’s undercard was another Quebec native in Kevin Owens. Owens, who grew up in nearby Marieville, didn’t show up until after Zayn had already lost to Reigns.

And while there was justification for Owens not being on the show beforehand so that he could have a special moment with Zayn after Zayn’s loss, Owens still felt somewhat disappointed that WWE didn’t let him contribute to the show in other ways before his special moment with Zayn.

Kevin Owens wishes he could’ve played a much bigger role at Elimination Chamber in Montreal

In an interview with The Toronto Sun, Kevin Owens explained that he lobbied WWE to come to Montreal, but when the company listened to his suggestion, they didn’t include him on the main card, and he wasn’t too happy about that.

“I wasn’t on that show and that hurt. I’ve got to be honest with you … a sold-out pay-per-view in my hometown. To be quite honest, I think I was pretty instrumental in bringing it there because right after we did Raw and Smackdown (in Montreal), I kept telling them we need a pay-per-view there, we need a pay-per-view there and they finally do it and I’m not even on the show.

That sucked. I’m not going to mince my words, that sucked and I was upset about it. But what can you do? I did get to show up in the end there a little bit, but by that point, it was nothing, it was meaningless.

But to see Sami get that moment, to see Sami get that reaction, to see Sami get something he deserved for so long, that really made that a lot easier to swallow. And it’s all a credit to him.”

Although Kevin Owens didn’t get to have his own match at Elimination Chamber, he did go on to have what many fans consider a much bigger accomplishment a few months later when he and Zayn defeated the Usos in the main-event of Night One WrestleMania 39.

Not only did Owens and Zayn end the Usos’ record-breaking reign as tag team champions, but the four of them were part of the first tag team match to main-event a WrestleMania since Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, Roddy Piper, and Paul Orndorff had their tag team match in the show-closing spot at WrestleMania One in 1985.