Kevin Owens has been an impressive boost during his 10 years in WWE. He is no stranger to high-profile matches like the only one he has against WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes at the inaugural. Bash at the Berlin PPV on Saturday. Owens’ career is one that he and many others dreamed of, but unfortunately it took almost part of his career to really recognize it.
Owens used to be one of the early benefactors of WWE’s renewed hobby of signing separate main eventers. He signed with WWE in 2014 and received the NXT Championship two months after his debut. His first big match on the roster was a shutout victory against the all-time admirable John Cena. It’s certainly one of the best first six months for any WWE celebrity. Owens was an Intercontinental Champion and reached the semifinals of a vacant WWE World Heavyweight title match before his first full year as a WWE signee ended. He endured his great luck over the next two years, becoming overall and US champion.
“From 2015 to 2018, that’s all I could think about,” Owens told CBS Sports of his name aspirations. “That’s when I was champion all the time. I was intercontinental champion, United States champion, universal champion, and I was never happy. I always wanted more.
“I was looking for the then and while to be bigger. I would finish an attack and assume, what is then and while? People I talked to said, ‘I don’t know what then and while is, we’ll figure it out.'” ‘I actually didn’t enjoy any of it as much as I should have.”
Owens fulfilled much of his youthful dream, but was too blinded by the hobby to enjoy it. To put into context how much Owens loves professional wrestling, he learned English by watching WWE programming. The champion of the week did not speak the language until the 11th hour, acquiring the vocabulary through attention to the legendary WWE commentator Jim Ross. That early fascination sparked a lifelong willpower toward professional wrestling. Owens debuted at age 16 and spent 14 years creating an acclaimed separate career that ultimately caught the eye of WWE.
Owens may no longer be saved from a self-sabotaging cycle of luck until he is pressured to do so. Owens took a five-month hiatus in 2018 to recover from double knee surgery. It used to be his first opportunity in years to prioritize self-reflection.
“I needed that time off because I had been on the road for four years with WWE,” Owens said. “It’s like a train. You get on and you don’t get off. You don’t notice how the temporary presence passes.
“I talked to people about how hard it was for me to unplug and not get consumed by wrestling all the time.”
The presentation used to be physical and emotional recovery. Faced with the epiphany that his all-consuming obsession with professional wrestling was no longer optimal, Owens called one of his idols out of the blue. Shawn Michaels responded in the alternate ending.
“He was kind enough to listen to me,” Owens said. “He said he used to be like me in some ways throughout his career. Always obsessed with who he was then and no longer playing the journey. Hearing it from someone he was so much like helped me a lot to let it out.
“Since then, I still have moments where I get carried away, but I can step back and say, ‘Hey, this is pretty awesome.’ Maybe it’s not perfect or it’s not how you think it should be sometimes, but come on, that’s been true.” been very helpful.”
Watch the full interview with Kevin Owens below.
Owens’ presence occurred right at the moment of the presentation. Although he didn’t get to enjoy his first reign as WWE World Champion, Owens was often able to savor rarer, bigger moments. He faced early hero “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in the legendary wrestler’s first matchup in 19 years and won the undisputed tag team championships in a major WrestleMania 39 match with his perfect friend Sami Zayn. The closest is the first WWE name to fit into a German PPV.
“It’s worked out well. I was in the ring at WrestleMania this year with Randy Orton. Amazing stuff.”
