Kevin Owens wanted to be on the card for WWE Elimination Chamber.
WWE Elimination Chamber 2023 marked the company's first premium live event in Montreal since 2009, and the buzzworthy show was headlined by Quebec native Sami Zayn challenging Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Despite plenty of support from the Canadian crowd, Zayn was unsuccessful in his quest to beat Reigns. After the bell, fellow Quebec native Kevin Owens made the save when Reignd and Jimmy Uso attacked Zayn, and the two Canadian stars stood tall to close the show.
Speaking with Spencer Love for Love Wrestling, Owens was asked to reflect on WWE Elimination Chamber 2023, and he admitted that not being on the card was a bummer. He noted that he was glad to be a part of it, and he was happy to see Zayn get a special moment. But Owens explained that it somewhat hurt that he didn't get to be on the show itself.
“I gotta be honest, not being on the actual show was a real bummer. There’s no way around that. I really wish I could have been there. But to be a little part of it at the end was great, and to see Sammy get his really big moment they he deserved and to see everybody reacting to him the way they did after all these years, obviously any time he’d show up in Montreal, he’d get a great reaction, but to be in that spot in that moment, for him that was really big. It was great to see that, but not being on the show definitely hurt a little. But honestly it’s not even just because it’s Montreal. I feel the same way everywhere. Any time we go to Canada and I’m not on one of the shows, I’m like, why am I not on this show? Canada is funny this way where we’ve tried to explain this to people in WWE and other wrestlers and even people in management, but I don’t think they quite grasp that Canada is just one big city in a way for their homegrown guys. Whether we go to Winnipeg or Toronto or Quebec or Vancouver, anywhere across Canada, really, we’re welcome as being hometown guys. That’s really special, so any time there’s a show in Canada and I’m not on it, that hurts a little," Owens said.
Though Owens was not on the card for WWE Elimination Chamber, he and Zayn headlined the first night of WrestleMania 39 and won the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.
Catch up on our coverage of the June 26 episode of WWE Raw here.
Owens and Zayn will defend the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship on the June 30 episode of WWE SmackDown. Check out the card here.
Gunther recently shared his thoughts on his matc against Kevin Owens. Click here to see what he had to say.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
