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What's the story?
Speaking on Lilian Garcia’s ‘Chasing Glory’ podcast, Kevin Owens opened up on a wide range of WWE topics and explained how frustrated he felt after being left off the match card for WrestleMania 35.
In case you didn't know…
It was widely reported earlier this year that Kevin Owens was due to face Daniel Bryan in a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 35.
However, during Owens’ absence due to double knee surgery, Kofi Kingston’s popularity sky-rocketed and WWE’s decision-makers were left with little choice but to book a match between the New Day member and Bryan for the WWE Championship.
As a result, instead of Bryan vs. Owens at ‘Mania in April, Bryan vs. Owens vs. Ali took place at the Fastlane pay-per-view in March, leaving Owens without a meaningful storyline or match heading into WWE’s biggest show of the year.
Rather than watch the event from backstage, the former Universal champion flew home and decided to watch the show on television with his family.
The heart of the matter
Kevin Owens insinuated during his conversation with former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia that he still does not know the reason why he was not booked to take part in a different match at WrestleMania 35.
“You’ve got to ask somebody else – not me. I really can’t put into words how frustrating it was. I couldn’t even go to the show.”
Regarding future WrestleMania events, Owens mentioned that his WrestleMania 35 experience has mentally prepared him to potentially miss the show again one day.
“I’ve lived through not being on WrestleMania now. As weird as it sounds, it should probably make me go, ‘Next year, I’m going to be on it no matter what – and I do have that mindset – but at the same, if I’m not on it, I’ll live.’”
What's next?
Kevin Owens teamed with Sami Zayn to defeat Big E & Xavier Woods at WWE Stomping Grounds on June 23. Moving forward, it looks as though the duo will be in contention to challenge for the SmackDown Tag Team titles over the next few weeks.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
