Kevin Owens Says He Didn't "Want To Be Like Dolph Ziggler" When He Came To WWE

During the latest episode of WWE After the Bell with Corey Graves, Kevin Owens joined the show to talk about his WrestleMania 38 match with Steve Austin, teased a potential matchup with actor Matthew McConaughey, and mentioned how happy he was to see his long-time friend Sami Zayn's match with Johnny Knoxville.

The former Universal Champion also spoke about Dolph Ziggler and the struggles he's gone through throughout the years he's spent in WWE. Kevin Owens mentioned how Ziggler's negative attitude within the company at times had shown him what he didn't want to be, and why he's happy to see Ziggler in a positive mindset moving down to NXT.

"He's a guy I respect a ton, and I don't think I've ever told him this but he's one of the guys that I would look at and be like, 'I don't want to be like Dolph,'" Owens said. "In the sense that he's so good and I would see him so frustrated because he's so good and he feels like he should be doing more, and he was right. I remember thinking, man, I don't want to be like that. This was when I was first [in WWE] in 2014-15, I was like, I don't want to be like that, I want to come to work and I don't want to be frustrated all the time.

"But guess what, when you're passionate and hungry and know you're good, which is what he is, it's inevitable. It's going to happen to everybody. If you don't go through that at one point, I'm not going to say you're in the wrong business because that's cliche and I don't believe that, maybe you just have a different perspective, but the hunger to do more and to be able to contribute to the show as much as you think you should or could, that's normal. But it's important to eventually find that perspective to enjoy it because that's my thing. I was like, man, Dolph never really seems to enjoy himself. And then that shifted, I've seen him now completely differently."

Ziggler lost the NXT Championship on the Monday Night RAW after WrestleMania 38 and has yet to wrestle a match since. Kevin Owens continued to talk about Dolph Ziggler and mentioned how great it's been to see the former WWE World Champion have a positive impact on NXT 2.0.

"When he went to do that NXT stuff, I remember I watched the first night that he cut that promo in NXT and I texted him. He and I don't really text, we're not friends that way," Owens mentioned, "But I texted him to say that promo was unbelievable. It was a Dolph that I hadn't seen in years. He was like, 'yeah, it was really refreshing,' he said the same but even before that, his whole attitude and energy shifted. He seems to be enjoying himself at work a ton more."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE After the Bell with Corey Graves with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.