Kevin Owens was a guest recently on E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness and discussed how surreal it was to work a program with Vince McMahon:
“I knew something was going to happen with Vince for a couple days beforehand. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly until we ironed out everything that day. When it happened, when I actually went through with it, it was just so surreal. That’s the thing about me, and I’ve said this in interviews and I’ve told a lot of people – I never stopped being a fan of WWE. I’ve been a huge fan since I was eleven years old and that never stopped.
“I remember my first night in NXT. I was the first match on that show, the Takeover special. I was right by the little Gorilla position they have at Full Sail University. There’s a TV there that plays the show live, obviously. You know the opening graphics with the ‘Then. Now. Forever,’ and all the faces that flash like Cena and (Edge & Christian) and Shawn and Bret and Taker and all those guys as the WWE logo come into frame. I was watching that and then the next thing as soon as that intro ends, it goes into the video package for the show, and the first face I saw was me, and I got insane goosebumps. I remember saying ‘Holy s**t, this is actually happening.’ I was like, it’s been fifteen years, since I was eleven years old when I started hoping this would happen one day.
“Then the same thing happened when I showed up on Raw to do the thing with Cena. I remember after it happened that night, I went back to my hotel and I walked into the elevator. The walls were mirrors and I just walked up to the wall and as my elevator is going down, I was just staring at myself in the mirror thinking ‘I can’t believe this is actually happening.’
“I never lost that. I’m still a fan. People will come around, like Shawn Michaels will come to TV once in a while, and he’s the reason I decided I was going to be a wrestler in the first place after seeing one of his matches. Any time Shawn’s around, I get to talk to him. We get to talk about the business, family, and life and it just blows my mind. I’m still just such a fan. So to get to do that with Vince McMahon, just forget about it. It was incredible. It’s just a moment of my career that I’ll never forget.”
Rush’s Analysis: Kevin Owens works as hard as anyone in wrestling today to maintain his heel persona, but it’s impossible not to like him when you listen to interviews like this. Now excuse me while I go down a Steen/Owens YouTube hole for the next few hours.
Owens also talked about his friendship with Sami Zayn and his struggle to make a living prior to finding success in wrestling. To hear the entire interview, check out E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness.
Please credit PWPodcasts when using any part of this transcription.
Be the first to comment