Kevin Owens On How ROH Departure Led To WWE Signing, Main Reason For Going To WrestleMania 30, More
WWE's Kevin Owens was recently a guest on The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast. During the podcast, Owens talked about buying a ticket for WWE WrestleMania 30 despite promising himself that he would never attend WrestleMania as a fan. Also, Owens stated that being forced out of Ring Of Honor helped him get to the next level. Additionally, Owens discussed how he feels about being an inspiration to people in their own lives.
According to Owens, even though he promised himself that he would not attend any WrestleMania as a fan, he attended WrestleMania 30 to watch Daniel Bryan main event 'The Showcase Of The Immortals'.
"I didn't go [to WrestleMania] for years until [WrestleMania 30]. [WrestleMania] 30 was the first one I went to because I wanted to see Daniel Bryan on that stage, but every year before, I kept thinking, 'I don't want to go to WrestleMania because the next time I go to WrestleMania, I want it to be as a WWE employee.' I broke that rule for 30 because I couldn't miss Daniel Bryan in that environment. And also at that point, I had been talking with WWE, so I almost felt like 'I think I'll be there soon.'"
The so-called 'prizefighter' said that he decided to dedicate himself to a career in professional wrestling as a means of supporting his young family.
"A couple of years ago, I had a kid. I had a wife. I had a job that I hated and I wanted to stop working because I wanted to dedicate my full attention to professional wrestling to hopefully make it to WWE, but also to make as much money as I could as a wrestler to support my family, so I decided to, I don't know how to describe it, I made the decision to kind of change. Not change who I was in the ring, but just turn everything up in a way. I don't know. Like, if you look at my stuff from Ring Of Honor, for example, I think you can pinpoint the moment where I just kind of went crazy and that really helped. And I think without that moment, I wouldn't be here [in WWE] now."
'KO' elaborated on this notion, claiming that parting ways with ROH helped him step up his game and get to the next level.
"I remember I was in Ring Of Honor and I lost a match that meant I was to go away from Ring Of Honor and at that point I didn't know if I would ever go back. And I think, for about two weeks, I considered just not wrestling altogether and I remember looking at the paper, like in the ads, for work, like a regular job. And then I realized, like, 'none of this is going to work. I have to change.' I think that's the moment almost." Owens continued, "I had a PWG show in California. At that point, I hadn't wrestled in PWG for like a year almost. And I wrestled [Akira] Tozawa, who was just announced in the Global Cruiserweight Series for WWE. I wrestled him and that match made me realize, 'oh, I can definitely still do this'. And I guess if you had to pinpoint a match where I think everything turned around, that would be the one, but it was off of Ring Of Honor basically firing me at that point. I don't know. That's when things kind of took a turn that I feel ultimately led me here [to WWE]."
Owens indicated that he would never claim to be an inspiration for others; however, he understands why fans relate to him and he is happy to impart some wisdom when asked for advice by young fans.
"A lot of people see themselves in me I guess because I'm not chiseled out of stone and tanned and 6'5"." Owens added, "I had people tell me that the fact that I'm here [in WWE] gives them hope for their own lives and I'm never going to claim to be an inspiration for anybody because I find that very egotistical, but if I can help people in such a way, just like the one thing I always said when people ask me, like, I don't know, I've had kids ask me like, 'what's the best advice for me? I want to be a wrestler one day.' As corny as it sounds, it sounds like a John Cena t-shirt catchphrase, but I say, 'just don't let anybody tell you [that] you can't do it.' You know what I mean? I've heard that my whole life and it never mattered. And here I am now."
Click here to check out the show. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast