Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Kevin Owens was on les Anti-Pods de la Lutte, TVA Sports’ wrestling podcast, hosted by Pat Laprade and Kevin Raphael.
On working with Seth Rollins:
"When it’s been so long you know someone, like Seth, I’ve known him for 15 years now, you develop a chemistry with that person after all those years. With Seth, it’s a different chemistry, because a chemistry like the one we have right now, we didn’t really know we had that. We knew we could do good matches and provide good wrestling together, but we never really had a chance to do some back and forth like this, so it’s fun to realize that there’s something there."
On walking out of the Survivor Series match:
"I just thought it was the best thing to do at that time and everybody thought the same thing, so that’s what we did. If you look at how we got there, it would have not made sense to do anything else than that. It’s an idea I came up with and I believe it worked out perfectly."
On why no one from WWE did promos for ROH Final Battle:
"The answer is quite simple: Ring of Honor didn’t ask any wrestlers from WWE to do that, nor contacted anyone at WWE. I knew it was going to be their last show, but I didn’t think to send a video so they could play it at the show. I’ve watched it. I was at a WWE show, and I was watching it on my phone, so it was not something I simply ignored. I’ve read some people on the Internet saying that probably WWE didn’t let us do it, but that’s incorrect. It’s just ROH who didn’t ask us, and I bet that if they had, we could have done it, but that wasn’t the case."
On the importance of Ring of Honor on his career:
"It’s funny cause I often ask myself that same question. Of course, it gave me a very important platform in the United States. But at the end of the day, William Regal saw me at a PWG show. And even before I started full time with ROH in 2007, I had a good name on the indies because of PWG. So sometimes I wonder if things would have not become what they became with ROH, if I would have made it to WWE anyway. Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know. But at the same time, there was a point in my career where I thought ROH would be where I would spend my whole career. Even if my goal was always to go with WWE, there’s was a point in my life where I had my son and my wife, and I was thinking that travelling so much like I would have had to do in WWE was not the best thing for me, so I was thinking that the more time I can make a living working ROH, that’s what I would do. However, with time, my priorities changed a little, my family’s priorities changed a little, and that’s when WWE became my goal again. So ROH was a big influence and a huge part of my career, but I often wonder if ROH would have not been part of my career, if I would have made it to WWE anyway. A huge part of me thinks so. That said, I have plenty of good and fun memories with ROH, and I’m very happy to have been apart of ROH for all those years."
On how different is NXT 2.0
"Today’s NXT is very different than the NXT I was part of, to the point I believe it should have a totally different name. And I don’t think it’s better or worse, but it’s just too different. So when I’m watching NXT, I don’t see the NXT I was part of. It’s not the same thing. It’s a little bit like Ring of Honor. The ROH of old days and the ROH now, it’s just not the same thing. So to me, it’s completely two different products, so when I’m watching it, I put myself in the mindset we had when I was at NXT and the mindset there seems to have right now, it’s completely different. It’s very hard for me to compare them. I don’t even consider that to be the same show. I don’t really feel any attachment to NXT now. Listen, there are very talented people working there, and I have watched the last TakeOver show they did and there were parts of it that I thought was really good, but it’s like a few years ago, if they had asked me to go back to NXT, I would have said yes. But f they would ask me that now, I don’t think I would be as receptive to go back, because it’s not the same thing. I don’t think I fit in the new NXT as I was fitting in the NXT I was part of, with guys like Sami, Finn, Samoa Joe and Nakamura. When I watch NXT now, I don’t feel the same thing I felt when I was watching NXT two years ago."
On the booking and how he tries to stay relevant:
"I always try to give to the show what I’m being asked to give. I try to give them what they want, in a way that fans will appreciate it and will be able to say that even if they watched one of my matches and thought that it should have not finished the way it did, that they thought it was a good match anyway. That’s what I want. I want to give good matches. So that’s how I’m able to always have an important role to play on the show. "
On what’s next for him:
"Of course, I’d like to become WWE champion, I’d like to win the tag team titles with Sami. I mean, Sami and I winning the tag belts, that must be written in the stars. I don’t see how it couldn’t happen if we are both with WWE. But it’s been six years now, and it had not happened yet, so I guess it might not be happening. I also came to realize one thing is recent months, is that a lot of my satisfaction working there does not come from wrestling, but more from watching others wrestle, and seeing them having a lot of success, and sometimes being able to help them. Like when someone asks me for an advice, I gave one to them, they try it and it actually works, or when I can bring help to someone else, and it works, to see them having success brings me a lot of satisfaction. So in the next few years, what I’d like is to have an important role on the show, and be able to work with Edge and Rey Mysterio, with whom I’d really like to work one day, but one of the goals I want to give myself, is to help anyone who wants my help, because I have a huge sense of accomplishment when I see other people working hard and who deserve to be recognized for their passion or their talent, to see it happening. I think it’s really cool. So I could see myself working as an agent one day, because I already have those feelings of accomplishment even if I’m still active. That said, I don’t see myself hanging my boots any time soon, but just to know that it could be a possibility one day, it’s good to know and comforting."
Here’s the link for the full interview in French: https://omny.fm/shows/les-anti-pods-de-la-lutte/l-ann-e-2021-de-kevin-owens
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
