At WWE Backlash, Kevin Owens and Randy Orton took the ring against The Bloodline in the show's lone non-title match, going to war against Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and eventually, Tanga Loa, who debuted in the match and aligned with his fellow Gurilla of Destiny to help secure the win.

And yet, in the hours leading up to the match, Owens wasn't talking to Metro UK about his feud with The Bloodline – at least not exclusively – but instead his future, with the “Prize Fighter” noting that he has less than a year left on his current WWE contract and doesn't want to take his run for granted.

“I really don’t take anything for granted, I’ve nine months left on my contact, and I don’t know what can happen from here on out. That’s just life. If I’ve learned anything over the last few years, it’s that nothing is guaranteed,” Kevin Owens explained via Metro UK. “I’ve learned that through some very unfortunate events, we’ve lost so many good people that was never expected. That’s just one example of how I do not take anything for granted, how I look at things now. This has been my home for 10 years, and it’s beyond the locker room. There’s some very, very, very special people that work behind the scenes that I’ve become very close with, and I really can’t imagine not seeing them as part of my life.”

Whoa, could KO actually leave WWE? Well, considering his relationship with the Young Bucks and the fairly significant role he played in the creation of AEW, it's safe to say he could be in very high demand in the not-too-distant future in sunny Jacksonville, Florida.

Kevin Owens was in heavy demand the last time he was a free agent.

While there's no guarantee that Owens ever leaves WWE for another promotion, as he could become a lifer who keeps working for the promotion when he retires from in-ring action, he did consider jumping to AEW the last time his contract expired due to his relationship with the Young Bucks, as he explained to Corey Graves in an interview on the now-defunct After The Bell podcast.

“I love all those guys, we know who we're talking about. I'm so close to them still, I talk to them fairly regularly. I haven't seen those guys in a long time, and obviously, I haven't been in the ring with them in forever. I had a blast when I was in the ring with those guys all the time when I was on the independents,” Kevin Owens told Corey Graves via Wrestling Inc.

“So there was definitely an appeal there to go back and hang out with those guys and get in the ring with those guys, that would've been sweet. But ultimately the thing that really sealed the deal was Vince McMahon made it clear that he wanted me to stay. A part of me almost felt like it was going to be corny, but this place is like a family.

“Just like AEW is probably like a family for those guys as well and it's not just the other wrestlers and performers. It's the crew, it's everybody backstage, it's everybody that works behind the scenes. Like some of my best friends in this company aren't people you see on camera.

“It was just really hard not picturing myself coming to work on Monday or Friday and seeing those people. Obviously WWE made me an offer, they wanted me to stay and that sealed the deal altogether. It wasn't style or anything like that, it just felt like the best decision and it just made the most sense.”

Owens then revealed how he played a pivotal role in connecting another OG member of The Elite, Cody Rhodes, with the Bucks, explaining that he gave the second-generation Superstar the Jacksons' phone numbers and asked them to take care of his friend.

“I've told him this before but I'm so proud of Cody,” Owens said. “When he was here, he and I got close pretty quickly and then he left and that really sucked for me because I felt like I was really losing [a friend]. I have people in this business that are really more like brothers to me than friends, it's not everybody but there are a few people out there that I consider more like family. Cody is one of them, so when he left, it was a blow to me,” Kevin Owens explained.

“Cause I figured, look, we're going to be so busy, we're barely going to see each other, which is true, we saw each other once, maybe twice the whole time he was gone. When he was going out on his own, he was doing it because he felt this was best for him. He didn't feel like he was being given the chance to be what he could be in WWE, so he decided to bet on himself and leave.

“And the only thing I did, he asked me for some sort of guidance because he had never been on the independent scene before, and I gave him The Young Bucks' numbers and I told them ‘can you guys take care of this guy?' And look what happened. They really changed the industry, they did, there's no denying it. Cody went out and did that, he didn't do it himself, he had a lot of help and a lot of people but he was an integral part of that.

“Then he came back here, which I don't know about as much, but I think that was always his ultimate goal. As he was doing it, as things were progressing, his mindset might have changed at some point and seen himself coming back at some point because he was doing so well.”

Welp, there you go, folks; without Owens, there might not be an AEW period, and as a result, his addition to the promotion in free agency, should he take that path, would produce a pretty incredible full-circle moment, as he could be what CM Punk couldn't and earn a few more opportunities in the main event scene as WWE transitions him out of that role. Is Kevin Steen on the horizon? Fans will find out soon enough.