Kevin Owens is undeniably a top star within the WWE. From his debut in NXT to his recent battle with Shane McMahon, Kevin Owens has been unstoppable. So what makes him so brilliant?
Before Kevin Owens was Kevin Steen. Steen is his real surname and before his signing to NXT in 2014, he had already been wrestling for 14 years. He began with International Wrestling Syndicate, and then worked with Combat Zone Wrestling, All American Wrestling, Ring of Honor and most notably Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. With each promotion, Steen held the top belt something that was echoed in NXT and when he was on the Main Roster. Steen also held tag titles where he teamed with El Generico (Sami Zayn). He moulded himself into a top wrestler and in WWE, his name became even bigger.
In WWE, he dropped Steen for Owens after Owen Hart and his own son Owen. During his debut match at NXT Takeover: R Evolution (December 14) he defeated CJ Parker. Parker unfortunately broke Owens’ nose during the match. Later on that night, Sami Zayn won the NXT Championship and Owens went to congratulate him, attacked him and gave him a Powerbomb. Now a heel, he had turned once again on somebody who had been a constant in his career – Sami Zayn. Owens fought former NXT Champion Adrian Neville and after the match there was another brawl bettween him and Zayn. Zayn demanded a match, but Owens only wanted a match for the NXT Championship. His wish was granted, and a mere 2 months after being in NXT he became Champion. He beat Zayn by giving him five consecutive Powerbombs and was stopped before a 6th could be executed. Owens was already dominant and in a big way. After a successful title defense against Finn Bálor, Zayn wanted his rematch and once again after a brutal beatdown Owens retained, only being stopped by a debuting Samoa Joe.
At Beast Of The East, after a 143 day reign Owens lost the NXT Championship to Finn Bálor. Without the NXT Championship he was free to debut on the Main Roster and after an unsuccessful tirle rematch against Bálor he did just that. Debuting in a way only Kevin Owens could, he answered John Cena’s United States Championship open challenge. Owens however, decided instead of a match he would just attack Cena and then stamp on the United States Championship. After a feud with Cena, Owens earned a chance at once again grabbing a title – the Intercontinental Championship from Ryback with he won.
Owens then entered a tournament for a chance at the vacated WWE World Championship but was beaten in the semi finals by Dean Ambrose. The two then feuded and Ambrose won the IC Championship at TLC. Owens regained the IC Championship in February of 2016 after grabbing it in a Fatal Five Way. Unfortunately he lost it again at WrestleMania 32 to Zack Ryder. After a match to decide the number one contender for the WWE Championship, which he lost his feud with Zayn reignited.
July 2016, during the brand spilt, Owens was placed on RAW and a few months later gained the new Universal Championship in a Fatal Four Way after it was vacated due to Finm Bálor being injured. The Championship was won with help from Triple H who hit Seth Rollins with a Pedigree enabling Owens to secure the pin. Owens was once again on top with a top title. Owens aligned with legend Chris Jericho which gave months of glorious TV as aimed with “The List Of Jericho” both would help each other out in their matches. It seemed like nothing could stop this duo until Owens turned on Jericho at the Festival of Friendship that Jericho had organised.
Before the split of Jericho and Owens, Goldberg challenged Owens for the Universal Championship which Jericho accepted on Owens’ behalf. Solo, Owens went one on one against Goldberg at Fastlane (2017) in which he lost the Universal Championship after a distraction from Jericos. Titleless he turned his attention to Chris Jericho and the United States Championship which he gained at WrestleMania 33.
After WrestleMania, he was placed onto SmackDown and daubed himself the Face of America. Owens lost the United States Championship to Jericho but regained it rapidly. Following his second Money In The Bank match which once again he lost, a feud with AJ Styles began and what a feud it was. Owens lost the United States Championship to AJ Styles at Madison Square Gardens. However, in true Owens fashion this feud was far from over.
Owens regained the United States Championship for the third and final time but lost it again to Styles after a briefly returning Chris Jericho took the pin from AJ Styles. Naturally Owens demanded a rematch, which he got the following week, however the ref didn’t see Owens’ shoulder up during the three count due to be injured during the match. Owens was pissed and demanded yet another rematch which was once again granted, with SmackDown’s commissioner Shane McMahon as the special guest referee. This took place at Summer Slam and once again Owens was unsuccessful, by now he was enraged with McMahon who he claimed was an incompetent referee.
Owens was given one final chance at the United States Championship, but this time, he would pick the referee. After Sami Zayn turned him down, he asked Baron Corbin, but Corbin walked out during the match, and McMahon stepped once again into the referee role and cost Owens the United States Championship. Without going after the Championship, Owens decided to call Shane McMahon up on his incompetence.
Being Kevin Owens, the confrontation was anything but straight forward, he went in all guns blazing and riled McMahon up so much that he attacked Owens. Fury washed over Owens in a wave, to him McMahon overstepped the mark and he wanted to sue the WWE. The following week, with Shane McMahon suspended, the CEO Vince McMahon came to talk to Owens in the ring. Vince made it clear he was proud of Shane’s actions and suing WWE would get him nowhere. Shane was reinstated, and a match between the two was commissioned for Hell In A Cell inside the cell. Owens wanted confirmation that nothing would happen to him if he attacked a McMahon, upon reviving this be brutally attacked Vince.
This match was now extremely personal to Shane McMahon, and after a sorry excuse of an apology from Owens, the match was changed to a Falls Count Anywhere Hell In A Cell Match. The match was set, Hell In A Cell came and everyone was glued to the event. Gaining the upper hand, McMahon could have just pinned Owens for the win, but he wanted him to pay. Shane McMahon climbed the cell and dropped down onto Owens who was pulled out of the way at the very last second by Sami Zayn. The crowd exploded, as Shane layed there seemingly unconscious. Zayn dragged Owens’ also seemingly unconscious body on top for the pin and threw the referee down to count the pin.
When explaining on SmackDown why he helped Owens, he said the sight of Shane McMahon about to drop onto Kevin Owens made him realise that McMahon wanted to end his career or worse. In his eyes, McMahon didn’t care about him, he thought he despised Owens but realised he despised that Owens was right. Owens thanked Zayn, and they hugged each other. From friends, to rivals and back again, Steen and Generico were finally reunited.
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