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What's the story?
Kevin Owens was originally supposed to have a big part to play at WrestleMania 35, but WWE changed the former Universal champion's storyline in the build-up to the event and he ended up not appearing on the show at all.
During an interview on WWE’s European tour, Owens opened up on his decision to skip 'Mania altogether and watch it from home.
In case you didn't know…
After undergoing double knee surgery in October 2018, Kevin Owens returned to WWE programming as part of the SmackDown Live roster in February 2019.
WWE reportedly planned for him to face Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship in one of the featured matches at WrestleMania 35, but the role was instead given to Kofi Kingston after the New Day member had a sudden rise in popularity in the weeks leading up to WWE’s biggest show of the year.
As a result, Owens was fast-tracked into the WWE title picture one month earlier when he took part in a Triple Threat match with Bryan and Ali at Fastlane. However, once that match was over, he was left without a storyline heading into ‘Mania.
The heart of the matter
Speaking on the Sky Sports Lock Up podcast, Kevin Owens revealed that he flew home to watch WrestleMania 35 with his family because he did not want to watch the event from inside MetLife Stadium.
He said (quotes via Sky Sports):
"I actually went home because I couldn't be in that stadium. I flew home to watch it with my kids and my wife. I'm not sure how many people in this company are aware of that but I came back the next day. It was nice to be with my family, that made it a lot easier, but if you're in this company and you're not on WrestleMania and you don't take it hard, you should probably go do something else with your life. I don't think anybody can fault me for that."
When asked if there was a conversation about him being part of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal – a match usually reserved for people without a storyline – he replied:
"There was. But that's for me and the other person involved in the conversation to know about."
What's next?
Thankfully, things are looking up for Kevin Owens. Since his WrestleMania 35 omission, he has been one of the most prominent Superstars on SmackDown Live and he is currently preparing to face Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship at Money In The Bank.
