Kevin Owens Reveals WWE’s Plan to Have Vince McMahon Compete at a Recent WrestleMania

In the months leading up to WrestleMania 34, Kevin Owens started up a feud with Shane McMahon that saw him brutally attack Vince McMahon with a headbutt and powerbomb on an episode of SmackDown. This eventually led to Owens and Shane having a Hell in a Cell match, followed by a heel turn from Sami Zayn and an eventual tag match at WrestleMania 34 that saw the in-ring return of Daniel Bryan. However, as Owens told Inside The Ropes‘ Kenny McIntosh this week, WWE originally envisioned Owens and Zayn facing Shane and Vince.

“Yeah, that was really cool,” Owens said. “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. 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.’

“He 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,” he continued. “He got cleared medically and the storyline was already in progress. He was already so heavily involved in the storyline just because him and Shane were running SmackDown together, and obviously that was an incredible thing to be a part of Daniel’s return, especially in that building where he won the title at WrestleMania XXX, so it was great. 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.”

McMahon’s last match (unofficially) was against CM Punk back in 2012. Given that he’s now 75 years old, the odds of the WWE Chairman stepping back inside the ring again are highly unlikely.

Owens will challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship this coming Sunday at the TLC pay-per-view.