EXCLUSIVE: Kevin Owens Reflects on the Last Decade of Fights, Friendships and Breaking Down Fourth Walls in WWE

It was 10 years ago this month that WWE signed Kevin Steen to a contract and Kevin Owens was born.

Kevin Owens interrupting the Grayson Waller Effect on (8/23/24) SmackDown / WWE

"That wasn't French", Kevin Owens said with a smirk on his face. The comment in response to me prefacing a certain four letter word with a classic idiom for reasons I can't explain.

Perhaps I subconsciously felt the need to excuse my language with it being the first time we had ever shared a conversation, but it was an especially hilarious misstep as I forgot in real time that the Canadian WWE Superstar is fluent in multiple languages.

A golden opportunity to lighten the conversation and produce a good laugh did not fall by the wayside.

The last couple of months haven't been the easiest on Owens and his family. His mother was rushed to the hospital about a week before he was set to compete in the main event of Money in the Bank. A 6-Man Tag Team Match featuring himself, Randy Orton and WWE Champion Cody Rhodes going against Solo Sikoa's new version of the Bloodline.

Just as his Mom would have encouraged him to do, Owens competed that weekend in Toronto as she fought her own battle back home in Quebec. Thankfully, all updates in the weeks that have followed her hospitalization have been positive.

“She's doing a lot better," Owens told The Takedown on SI this past Friday. "It got real scary for a while and now she's home. So it's definitely positive and everybody else is doing as good as they can, I guess. It's a lot better than it was at the beginning of July.”

After spending much of the previous four days in the hospital with his family, Owens made the trip to Toronto on the eve of MITB. He didn't have a match on SmackDown that night, but he was handed a microphone to hype the next night's showdown with the new version of the Bloodline, led now by Solo Sikoa.

Given everything that had happened in the days leading up to the show, however, Owens said he couldn't go to the ring and just cut a promo on his opponents. Instead he talked to a packed Scotiabank Arena about his mom.

“It was very therapeutic for me, I think. It was also something I knew, that if she pulled through, she would end up seeing.”

What the former WWE Universal Champion said to the crowd that night wasn't a promo. It was an expression of love and appreciation for the woman who did everything she could to help her son fulfill his lifelong dream of being a professional wrestler at the highest level.

“It was very surreal. I gotta be honest with you. It was almost two months ago now. Everything since my dad called me that morning and said, you gotta get home, feels like it went by in a flash. I barely remember a lot of it. It's very odd. Even talking about it now, like, man… that actually happened.”

What's also felt like it's just flown by for Owens is his entire career in WWE. He celebrated his 10 year anniversary of signing with the company back on August 12.

He still remembers the mind-blowing experience of getting the congratulatory Tweets - now called posts on the X platform - from guys like the Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Lance Storm. All idols of his as he grew up in the business, dreaming of one day getting the chance to follow in their footsteps.

“I remember the feeling I had at the time, that day when it all unfolded and it was being made official. Everybody's reaction. And it was really great to see how happy people were for me and how much people were rooting for me. There were also a lot of people saying it's not gonna last six months. Looking back at it 10 years later is pretty wild.”

Bringing me back around to the aforementioned four letter word (still not going to write it but you can use your imagination), Kevin Owens has done some really cool things during his WWE tenure.

He's a Grand Slam Champion. He wrestled Stone Cold Steve Austin in his first match in 19 years when he lost to the Texas Rattle Snake in a No Holds Barred Match at WrestleMania 38. The first of back-to-back main events on the Grandest Stage of Them All, by the way, as the following year he and Sami Zayn would dethrone the Usos to become Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions at WrestleMania 39.

The list of accomplishments is long enough that not even Owens himself can remember all the remarkable moments, at least not until a member of the media or a fan reminds him of something he had forgotten.

Around the time of his WWE anniversary, Owens took a stroll down memory lane. He wound up on a Reddit thread that was discussing the past decade of his career. He was pleased to discover that a vast majority of the comments were positive. A rarity for most social media platforms these days and true testament to his body of work.

When Owens signed his first WWE contract he had many of the same goals as his colleagues. Get to WrestleMania, become a World Champion, etc. As the years have progressed his perspective has changed. What he cherishes the most at this stage in his career are the relationships that he's forged along the way.

“I've gotten to meet a lot of really great people over the years. And I'm still in touch with a few kids that I've met at WWE shows that were going through stuff. You know, they were (or are currently) fighting illnesses and stuff like that. And I'm still in touch with some of them and their families. And that's probably the best part. I've developed these relationships with some really incredible people that I would not have met if it wasn't for WWE.”

It's those unexpected friendships that Owens says he would miss the most if his WWE career were to come to an end. Which, as of this writing, could only be a few months away.

During an interview with Metro UK back in May, Owens revealed that his current deal is set to expire in the early part of next year. He tells The Takedown on SI that the only change in his contract status since then is that there's now less time on his deal.

It would be incredibly difficult to imagine a world where WWE and Owens don't reach an extension agreement at some point in the near future. While KO has publicly expressed his desire to stay with the company, he also continues to prove his value to WWE with each passing week.

At a time when WWE has more organically grown 'babyfaces' than at any point in the last two decades plus, Owens has suffered no drop off in admiration from members of the WWE Universe. It's that undeniable bond with the fans that is helping him fuel up for the next stage of his career.

“I'm very lucky to have people respond to me the way they do. Even last week on SmackDown, during the match at one point, I think I hit a stunner on Grayson Waller and I stood up and I just looked at the crowd,” Owens said. “I really do think I have a special connection with the audience and it's really something I cherish a lot. It definitely helps me keep going, keep doing this.”

Kevin Owens is what baseball analysts would call a five tool player. He excels at all the necessary skills needed to be both a great bell-to-bell professional wrestler and sports entertainer.

He's long been lauded for his versatile storytelling ability, but his character work has flourished even further during the creative regime of Paul 'Triple H' Levesque.

“There's been a shift over the last few years. Who we are as performers and characters, there's a lot of our input and a lot of us that goes into it. It's very beneficial for the show, I think. It's beneficial for us as performers, because I think everybody will perform best if they're able to be themselves as much as possible."

It's that creative philosophy that has allowed Owens to showcase his comedic chops in a way that's unique to the newer generation of wrestling fans. Owens is personally unfamiliar with Deadpool as he's not seen any of the blockbuster films starring Ryan Reynolds, but he is well aware of the comparisons between himself and the Merc with a Mouth.

His casual fourth wall breaks portray a frequently hilarious dedication to commonsense and storyline continuity. He's also not afraid to poke fun at classic pro wrestling tropes and call them out for their ridiculousness. As evidenced by the opening segment this past Friday night on SmackDown.

Owens interrupted the Grayson Waller Effect, and for the sake of saving everyone time, openly told the audience the step-by-step process of making the evenings' main event tag team match in advance. Even going as far to say that had already spoken to SmackDown GM Nick Aldis about everything and then called him out to quickly make it official so Owens could rush the ring and start punching people.

“What has helped me bring that forward to the screen is definitely Triple H [taking over as Chief Content Officer], because he was kind of that way too. We have a very similar sense of humor. So it was, I don't know, it was a couple years ago when we were talking about how we were gonna do a certain thing on the show. And I went, and I was half joking, ‘Can I just point out how ridiculous this is?’ And he goes, “Yeah, why not?” And then it just became a thing.”

Recent events on SmackDown, however, have many wondering if a character shift for Kevin Owens is on the horizon. After dedicating the last four years of his career to battling Roman Reigns and the Bloodline, Owens reluctantly finds himself facing off against one of his allies in the trenches.

This Saturday at Bash in Berlin Owens will challenge for the one prize that has alluded him during his Hall of Fame level career when he battles his good friend Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship.

An opportunity gifted out of gratitude by the American Nightmare has KO a three count or submission away from capturing his first world title since 2017.

The seeds of a heel turn have already been sown. Nearly every fans' heart skipped a beat this past Friday on SmackDown when Owens aggressively walked up behind Cody Rhodes with the WWE title belt following their victory over A-Town Down Under. He didn't strike him with it... this time.

Can Cody Rhodes trust Kevin Owens? That's a very nuanced question and it may not be the right one to ask.

Nearly every betrayal at the hands of the Prize Fighter over the years stemmed from his own insecurities and trust issues. He would attack his friends and allies out of fear that they were secretly plotting against him.

So the question is can Kevin Owens truly convince himself that Cody Rhodes trusts him? Or will those old demons rear their ugly heads once again?

The balance of power has shifted over on SmackDown with Roman Reigns returning to a heroes welcome at SummerSlam. The Blue Brand is suddenly loaded in the good guy department.

Conventional wisdom indicates that someone at the top of the card would need to turn the other way to stabilize the wrestling landscape on Friday nights, but it's far from a guaranteed that Owens will be that guy.

Ultimately, it may be the audience that saves him from the dark side as Triple H is always listening, watching and willing to ride the wave of the crowd's reaction.

“I think that’s almost like the theory that's applied to everything we do now," Owens said. "Maybe the audience won't react exactly as you'd expect them to or even want them to when you crafted the story or whatever it is. But are they making noise? Yes. Okay, let's keep going this way and then we'll adjust as needed.”

The crowd was certainly making noise a couple Fridays ago when Owens attempted to power bomb Grayson Waller onto the ring apron. A move that has resulted in many of his opponents over the years being stretchered out of the building.

Certainly he wouldn't resort to those type of brutal tactics this weekend against the WWE Champion. Or would he?

“What I tried to do to Grayson Waller was unrelated. Pardon my French, but he's just a d-ck. So I was just trying to take care of that. It had nothing to do with Cody Rhodes. But I'm looking forward to that match. The German crowd is probably gonna be incredible for it. It's gonna be great to do that. Looking forward to it.”

It's an early start time this Saturday with WWE's latest premium live event taking place overseas. You can stream Bash in Berlin live starting at 1 p.m. ET on Peacock.

You can follow Rick Ucchino on X and on Instagram: @RickUcchino

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