WWE Undisputed Tag Team Champion Kevin Owens spoke with Spencer Love of Love Wrestling. The following highlights were sent to us:
Not having a match on the Elimination Chamber PLE in Montreal
KO: “Well, I gotta be honest, not being on the actual show was a real bummer. There’s no way around that. I really wish I could have been there. But, to be a little part of it at the end was great, and to see Sami get his really big moment that he deserved, and to see everybody reacting to him the way they did after all these years. Not that he was ever – obviously, anytime he’d show up in Montreal, you get a great reaction. But, to be in that spot, in that moment? For him, that was really big, so it’s great to see that. But, not being on the show, it definitely hurt a little. Honestly, it’s not even just because it’s Montreal, I feel the same way everywhere. Anytime we go to Canada, and I’m not on one of the shows. I’m like, ‘why am I not on this show?’ It’s everywhere. Canada’s funny this way, where, we tried to explain this to people in WWE, and other wrestlers, and even people in management, but I don’t think they quite grasp that Canada is just one big city in a way for their homeland guys. Whether we go to Winnipeg, or Toronto, or Quebec, or Vancouver – anywhere across Canada, really, we’re welcome as being a hometown guy. That’s really special. Anytime there’s a show in Canada, and I’m not on it, that hurts a little.”
On his relationship with former NHL coach Bruce Boudreau
KO: “Bruce was awesome. It’s funny because years ago, I watched this – I forget what it was called, NHL 24/7 or something like that. That show where they follow the teams leading up to the Winter Classic. I used to play hockey when I was a kid. Then, once I started wrestling, I kind of gave up any other sports, right? I stopped playing [and] stop watching.”
“But, over the pandemic, I kind of got back into hockey a little bit,” he continued.” Like I said, I’d already watched that show. The season I watched was the season where they followed Bruce’s team. So, I got to know Bruce through that lens, and I got a huge kick out of them. Just [a] great, really lovable guy. [I] really enjoyed him, you know. I liked them a lot already. Somehow, through the grapevine, through Twitter and stuff like that, I caught wind of him being a huge wrestling fan. He would say his favorite wrestlers were Bret Hart, and currently, Kevin Owens. I took that as a huge compliment. Through various little incidents where he’d mention wrestling and stuff like that, I could see the guy was a really big fan.”
“I was in touch with Jackie Redmond, who works with him through the NHL network and stuff like that. She also worked with WWE. Eventually, it just kind of worked out. I ended up at the Draft because it was in Montreal. I was there with my dad and my brother. I took them there to see it because they’re huge hockey fans. As I was in my suite with my brother and my dad waiting for the whole thing to start, I saw Jackie on the floor doing our show, so I texted her. She’s like, ‘Oh my god, Bruce is here! We have to get you guys together!’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it!’ It just kind of worked out that way! We surprised Bruce. His reaction was so cool. He and I have become friends, [and] we’re in touch since then. We were actually texting just this morning. It’s great – it’s just great to have made a new friend who loves wrestling, and I love hockey. We talk about that stuff, and it’s just really cool it just worked out that way.”
The emotional difference in wrestling Stone Cold Steve Austin versus winning the titles with Sami
KO: “You know, it sounds – I hate doing this, because it sounds like I’m trying to get out of it easily. But, there’s really no words to describe either experiences. The best way I can describe it is I look back on both of these these both these nights, and I I kind of can’t believe they happened. That I found myself in that situation, in that spot, getting to do that. The circumstances [of] both years were just so incredible. But, I guess if one takes the absolute cake, and it just edges out the other one by very little, I think it’s still more unbelievable to me that I wrestled Stone Cold Steve Austin, 19 years after his last match, in the main event of WrestleMania. Like that’s just – it’s just kind of a pinch yourself to make sure it’s real kind of moment. I’ve done that a lot over the last year and a half or so since that happened. But both those moments are things I’ll look back on when I’m done and think I was very, very lucky to get to experience those things.”
