Trivia / Kevin Owens

• Executive Meddling: In 2013, Steen signed a merchandise deal to have an action figure made of him by Figures Inc, that was naturally promoted by ROH since it was based on his exploits there. In 2015, these figures were still being made and WWE got upset about it. This lead WWE to try and get the WWN, which ROH used to be a member of but long left, to only make merchandise deals with companies it had approved of so there would be less independent talent it could sign with worries of merchandise 'conflicts'.
• Promoted Fanboy: Most wrestlers for WWE are this, but KO has been lucky enough to work alongside three of his absolute idols - teaming with Chris Jericho in a hilarious partnership, working behind the scenes with Shawn Michaels at the PC, and having a match with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (the latter's first in 19 years) at Wrestlemania 38.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • For being such an unstoppable freight train in NXT, his loss to Finn Balor after only about five months with the title seemed fast and sudden. It happened because the decision was made to fast-track Owens to being a regular member of the RAW roster. (The fact that Sami Zayn, whom he likely would have spent a good bit of time feuding with, isn't going to be around for a while due to an injury, certainly helped.)
  • Also won his WWE Universal Championship after an extremely short, quickly thrown-together Tournament Arc because Finn Bálor, who had won the inaugural title two weeks before, tore apart his shoulder in the process and had to vacate the title the next day for surgery and rehab.
• Real Song Theme Tune
  • ROH/PWG/CZW: "Tear Away" by Drowning Pool
  • PWG: "Now You're A Man" by DVDA
  • IWA Mid-South: Korn's cover of "Word Up"
  • International Wrestling Syndicate/C*4: "Better" by Guns N' Roses
• Those Two Actors: From IWS in Montreal to the WWE, if you're seeing Steen/Owens, Generico/Zayn isn't far behind.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The plans seemed to be there to make Owens vs. Zayn a months-long rivalry, probably with about three matches. But Zayn's freak shoulder injury cut the program short - and now with Owens apparently being fast-tracked to the main roster, there's no telling when or if Zayn and Owens will be able to reignite their indy circuit feud.
  • This question has since been answered. Sami Zayn made his more or less 'official' main roster debut at 2016's Royal Rumble and reignited his rivalry with Owens about two seconds thereafter.
  • If the reports are to be believed, it was Kevin Owens who was set to fight Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 35 for the WWE Championship. However, during the build-up for Elimination Chamber, one of the participants, Mustafa Ali, got injured and was replaced by Kofi Kingston. Kofi, who had been in with WWE for 11 years and had never been given a shot, won over the crowd in his attempts for the title, leading to Kevin Owens getting his shot one month early at Fastlane instead and giving Kofi Kingston that Wrestlemania title match.
  • During the buildup to the 2019 Survivor Series and Takeover: War Games III, Kevin was originally supposed to have the role that Finn Bálor was given - the "main roster guy" moved back to NXT for a total revamp of his character. His participation on Team Ciampa in the War Games match would likely have led to a rivalry with The Undisputed Era (which could have been a nice revisiting of Steen and Cole's PWG feud). For whatever reason, the plans didn't go through, and Kevin was kept on the main roster.