“I Wish It Would Have Led to More”- Kevin Owens on His Feud With WWE Chairman Vince McMahon

Many fans may remember the insane time when Kevin Owens brutalized the CEO of WWE Vince McMahon on SmackDown. The former WWE Universal Champion even frog splashed the boss which shocked the entire arena. 

What you may not know is that the rivalry was initially staged to go on to WrestleMania. Yes, we were going to have a Vince McMahon vs Kevin Owens showdown, but it never happened.

In a recent interview with Inside The Ropes and SPORF’s Kenny McIntosh, Owens revealed the story behind his planned feud with McMahon.

“Yeah, that was really cool. I wish it would have led to more, honestly. But who wouldn’t feel that way? I think it could have, and I think it almost did,” revealed Owens. 

“I really think, at one point, there was a chance that it was going to be me and Sami Zayn against Shane and Vince at WrestleMania – which would have been incredible – but Vince, I remember one of the things he had told me was, ‘I can’t run WrestleMania and focus on a match at the same time.’”

Instead, it was made a win-win with Daniel Bryan making an explosive return to the ring. Shane McMahon’s involvement protected the storyline while also accommodating Bryan.

“He [McMahon] felt like his best position was to not be in the ring, you know? But then also it was also the perfect situation for Bryan’s return,” explained Owens. “He got cleared medically and the storyline was already in progress.”

Vince McMahon had a lot of faith in Kevin Owens

“But it would have just been fun to keep that story with Vince going or have more interactions with him because, whether people want to admit it or not, to be in a story with Vince in any way, shape or form- to be on television with Vince, it helps as a star to the fans that are watching on TV – especially this elusive, casual audience that people talk about quite a bit.” 

“To see… When they see a Superstar in the ring with Vince McMahon, it immediately helps add credibility to that person,” concluded Owens. 

Kevin Owens is one of the few Superstars that got to manhandle Vince McMahon the way he did. A showdown with McMahon could have done the same thing to his career as it did for Stone Cold. 

However, with all things in place, it was a logical move to let Daniel Bryan come in. Everyone was a winner in the match at WrestleMania that year.