Subscribe
Follow Us
When it comes to the founding of AEW, some of the most important names in the oral history of the promotion have to be Cody Rhodes, Chris Jericho, the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Tony Khan, and… Kevin Owens?
What? One of those things is not like the others, as even TK has taken a bump in the middle of an AEW ring, but Kevin Owens? The “Prize Fighter” who is set to take on the “American Nightmare” at Bash in Berlin?
Well, it's true, as even though WWE didn't allow them to reference AEW, the “Best Bout Machine,” of the Jackson brothers, Nicholas and Matthew, during the special sitdown interview between the two competitors slated for the Bash in Berin pre-show, that didn't stop Rhodes from putting over KO for helping him along the way, noting that he very well may not have made it back without his help.
“My journey away from WWE, a huge part of it is Kevin,” Rhodes noted, “simply because Kevin said, ‘Hey here are the people, here are their numbers,' but also, he contacted those people and said, ‘this Cody guy, he's alright.'”
“Even after he left,” Owens recalled, “I was watching his matches on whatever independent promotion he'd be working. I was the Cody that he wanted to be here, that he didn't get to be and I remember texting him after saying that's it.”
Now are Owens and Rhodes just shooting an angle, giving WWE-only fans a narrative they can hold onto heading into the show? Surprisingly enough, no, Rhodes actually did the contact information of important indie wrestlers like the Young Bucks, with whom KO wrestled alongside in PWG under the Mount Rushmore moniker, from the “Prize Fighter” upon being granted his release and parlayed that introduction into a spot in Bullet Club, The Elite, an EVP role in AEW, and his eventual return to WWE a few years later. While Owens may not like how his match with Rhodes came together at Bash in Berlin, if anyone deserves a WWE Championship match solid, it has to be the man who played a massive role in Stardust becoming the “American Nightmare.”
Kevin Owens knew the Young Bucks would treat Cody Rhodes right
Speaking on the very topic of Rhodes requesting his release from WWE after an ugly run as Stardust with and against his brother “Goldust” Dustin Rhodes in an interview with CBS Sports ahead of Bash in Berlin, Owens effectively corroborated his friends' story, noting that he thought the Young Bucks would be down to help the second-generation grappler.
“Cody left in 2016, and it sucked. It sucked to lose my friend. I really wanted him to have the best possible introduction to the independent scene because he had never been around and never done that. He had been in the WWE system for so long. The independent scene is a whole different ballgame from the WWE.”
“I just guided him in the right direction and put him in touch with people. I knew the Young Bucks would take care of him, and I knew they would hit it off. They did. I was right. That helped him get the right platform, and everything else fit. He knew what he was capable of and he really wanted to show people what he already saw in himself. He succeeded. That’s an understatement. It’s great to see him get all of his flowers and see the position he’s in now.”
Goodness, when it comes to Rhodes' wrestling career, would there even be an “American Nightmare” without Owens' introduction? I mean, there's probably no spot in BOLA in PWG, no run in Ring of Honor, no run in New Japan, no spot in Bullet Club, no All In, and no AEW as we know it, as without the enterprising efforts of Rhodes and the Jacksons – with a little help from Dave Meltzer – the promotion may have never gotten off the ground at all, at least not in such a mainstream way that they can sell 130,000 tickets two a pair of show at Wembley Stadium 12 months apart.
With Owens' own future very much up in the air, as his contract is expected to expire in early 2025, don't be surprised if the man born and billed as Kevin Steen makes his triumphant debut in the promotion he has fingerprints all over to finally prove once and for all why he deserves a place on the Mount Rushmore of indie wrestling in America, right up there with the Young Bucks and Adam Cole, too, if he can ever get healthy.
