Before Kevin Owens was Kevin Owens: WWE Superstar, he was Kevin Steen, the name on his birth certificate and the name he used while tearing up indie rings all over the world with or without everyone's favorite luchador, El Generico.
Before officially joining the WWE in 2014, Owens worked for what feels like a majority of the indie promotions across the professional wrestling world, with runs in Ring of Honor, CZW, New Japan pro wrestling, and even Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he wrestled 109 matches and was part of the Mount Rushmore stable with Adam Cole and the Young Bucks, Nick and Matt Jackson. All in all, Owens worked 756 matches before he joined WWE, many of which were for small promotions that may not even exist anymore, and won 21 different championships for his efforts, but now that he's hit “the big time,” the indies are nothing but fond memories, right? Goodness, Owens is a three-time United States Champion, a former Universal Champion, a two-time IC Champion, and only the sixth-ever NXT Champion; why would he be worried about the kids traveling 1500 miles for 15 bucks, a hot dog, and a handshake, to paraphrase Jon Moxley?
And yet, while talking with Corey Graves on After the Bell, Owens not only talked up his indie roots, but actually suggested that now more than ever, an indie run could be in the cards now that Paul “Triple H” Levesque is running the show in WWE, as transcribed by The Wrestling Observer.
“I'm very deeply rooted in the independent scene. That's where I came up and I still have so many friends there. There's a few independent companies that are still very near and dear to my heart that I'd love to maybe one day show back up on just for fun whether it's a promo or maybe it's a match. That's stuff that over the years that I've always kind of thought, ‘hey man, it'd be really cool if I got to do that one day.' Now it feels like more of a possibility than ever. It doesn't mean it's going to happen but it feels like it could now.”
Could the day eventually come when Kevin Owens, or even Kevin Steen, graces an indie ring once more as fans cheer him on like a returning hero? While that feels somewhat unlikely, Shinsuke Nakamura is booked for a show in Japan at Pro Wrestling Noah for the final leg of The Great Muta's run, and The Good Brothers – Luke/Doc Gallows and “Machine Gun” Karl “Bright Lights” Anderson – are appearing in New Japan Pro Wrestling later this month, so there's always a chance. If that happens, maybe, just, maybe, fans could finally see the reunion of Mount Rushmore in a PWG Ring, a reunion in more ways than one since Cole hasn't been back in the now-Los Angeles-based promotion since 2017, and The Jacksons haven't been in the promotion since 2018.
Kevin Owens sets the record straight on Sami Zayn after WWE Survivor Series.
Elsewhere in Owens' interview with Graves, KO was asked about his relationship with Sami Zayn at Survivor Series and how things have progressed for the duo since they began working together some 20 years ago.
“We've really helped each other throughout our careers a lot, but we've probably held each other back as well just because of this constant pairing in people's minds,” Owens continued. “Back in 2017, he and I were, in people's minds, he and I were so just one. Like, if he got heat backstage for something, I'd get the heat too even if I had nothing to do with it. We got kicked off a Europe tour once together for something that I don't think either of us had anything to really be blamed for but I was barely involved in it.”
“I think it's just time to be done and he's thriving, he's thriving. I meant what I said on Monday too, people are seeing the Sami Zayn that I've known was there for 20 years.”
Did Owens feel betrayed after Zayn “split the uprights” with a well-placed uppercut at Survivor Series, opening things up for Jey Uso to deliver the WarGames-winning Samoan Splash?
“You know, he really didn't even betray me, he just helped his team win and he chose to do it in a messed up way,” Owens said of Zayn's actions at Survivor Series. “Like I said on Monday, I really can't really blame him, with everything I've done to him.”
Could we eventually see the day when Owens and Zayn reconvene within a WWE ring, maybe to challenge The Usos for one or both of the WWE Tag Team Champions Belts at WrestleMania 39? Only time will tell, but when you've shared the ring with another performer 370 times, it's hard to ever really close the door one way or another.
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