Kevin Owens 'Hurt A Little' Over Not Being Booked For WWE Elimination Chamber

While his Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship partner Sami Zayn headlined Elimination Chamber 2023 (losing to Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns), Kevin Owens was not booked on the show, which took place in his native Quebec. 

Though he was happy to see Zayn get his moment, KO has admitted that the omission hurt him a little (even if he was happy to be part of the show via a run-in). 

Speaking with Spencer Love for Wrestling, Owens said: 

"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 that 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". 

The Prizefighter went on to say that he feels the same way any time he's not booked on a show in Canada.

"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 and Zayn will defend their titles against Pretty Deadly on this Friday's (June 30) episode of SmackDown. 

H/T Fightful