One of the more accomplished veterans of WWE, Canadian pro wrestler Kevin Owens signed to the company in 2014 and pretty much entered the NXT Title scene the night he showed up. Soon enough Owens would debut on the main roster challenging John Cena and go on to hold numerous titles including the Intercontinental Championship (twice), the United States Championship (three times), and the Universal Championship.
But Owens also had a career before WWE, having wrestled on the independent wrestling scene for 14 years. Let’s take a look at what fans might not know about the career of Kevin Owens before he was Kevin Owens.
10 Wrestled Under His Real Name
While WWE prefers to give wrestlers company-created ring names rather than let them use their original concepts, Kevin Owens actually wrestled on the indies under his birth name of Kevin Steen. Steen embarked on his pro wrestling career at age 14 in his home province of Quebec, receiving training from Jacques Rogeau (a.k.a. WWE’s The Mountie) and Terry Taylor before making his debut at age 16. He would take the name Kevin Owens in WWE as a tribute not only to Owen Hart, but to his son Owen, who was named after Hart.
9 His First Championship
After debuting in 2000, it wouldn’t be long before Kevin Steen won his first title. Performing for the short-lived Elite Wrestling Revolution in Quebec, Steen won a three-way match to become inaugural EWR Champion, and held the belt for 239 days before dropping it to a wrestler called Crazy Crusher. He wouldn’t just become the inaugural champion, he would also become the last one, winning it at the end of a tournament in 2005 by defeating Impact X Division mainstay Petey Williams in the last show EWR ever held.
8 His First Match With El Generico
WWE fans know about Kevin Owens’ years-long rivalry with fellow WWE star Sami Zayn, as the two have been friends, teamed up, broken up, and put on classic emotional grudge matches during their time with the company. For Owens and Zayn, their time as Kevin Steen and El Generico are written into their narrative even working for the majors.
That said, their first encounter in the ring was a curious one. It happened for Quebec’s Internet Wrestling Syndicate (now International Wrestling Syndicate) in October of 2003, but not as a singles match. Rather, it was a three-way bout with former WWE star and future ROH World Champion PCO. The two would have their first singles match the following month.
7 Appetite For Destruction
As established, Kevin Steen most famously had a tag team with El Generico, but he also had a couple other memorable pairings, especially during his time with influential Southern California indie Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. From 2011 to 2012, Steen teamed with PWG founder Super Dragon as Appetite For Destruction, enjoying a 167 day run as World Tag Team Champions after defeating The Young Bucks in a Guerrilla Warfare match. However, the duo would have to vacate the belts due to Super Dragon sustaining a fractured heel.
6 Nightmare Violence Connection
Before Appetite for Destruction, however, Kevin Steen formed a brief but beloved tag team with future WWE star Akira Tozawa. The two entered the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla DDT4 tag tournament as the amazingly named Nightmare Violence Connection, defeating the Briscoe Brothers and the Kings of Wrestling to make it to the final round. They lost to The Young Bucks in the finals, but would reunite two months later for All Star Weekend 8, where they took on El Generico and Ricochet in what would go down as one of the best PWG matches of all time.
5 First Betrayal Of El Generico
Steen and Generico first tagged together as a duo in Combat Zone Wrestling in 2004, and continued their partnership in PWG (scoring two tag title runs), IWS, and Ring of Honor, occasionally fighting one another along the way. Their 203-day run as ROH World Tag champs would come to an end in April 2009 against The American Wolves, but that would not be the site of betrayal. Months later, at December’s Final Battle, a loss to the Young Bucks would cause Steen to finally turn on Generico, leading to a Mask vs. ROH Career “Fight Without Honor” a year later at Final Battle 2010.
4 Mount Rushmore
In 2013, Kyle O’Reilly won the Battle of Los Angeles tournament, after which he suffered a beating at the hands of Adam Cole and the Young Bucks. Kevin Steen -- then a top face in PWG -- shockingly joined them, and the group formed a heel stable called Mount Rushmore.
Mount Rushmore was a dominant faction in PWG, and Steen would often team with the Young Bucks while wearing ring gear to match that of the Jackson brothers. He would also tag with Adam Cole from time to time, naming their duo Cole Steen Cole, a play off of the “Kill Steen Kill” fan chant.
3 Wrestled For Dragon Gate
Even indie fans rarely talk about Kevin Steen’s adventures outside of North America, so much that it feels like a secret that he went on a brief tour with Japan’s Dragon Gate Pro-Wrestling from October 2006 to November 2006. The entire DG roster is divided into stables, so Kev was adopted by the top heel faction, Muscle Outlawz, composed of stars like Masato Yoshino, YAMATO, and Naruki Doi as well as gaijin like Jack Evans and Jimmy Rave. Despite his short run with DG, Steen did have a #1 Contender’s match for the top belt, the Open The Dream Gate Championship, in a losing effort against Don Fuji.
2 S.C.U.M.
The main event of Ring of Honor’s 2012 show Border Wars saw Kevin Steen not only defeat Davey Richards for the ROH World Title but also form a new heel faction in the process. Initially aligning with Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs, S.C.U.M. (Suffering, Chaos, Ugliness, and Mayhem) tried to take control of the promotion, feuding with ROH boss Jim Cornette. After increasing membership with guys like Rhino, Matt Hardy, and Jimmy Rave, Steen would find himself kicked out of S.C.U.M. after losing the ROH Title and being replaced by Hardy as the group’s main guy.
1 His Last Indie Match Was Against Jerry Lawler
As soon as any indie darling is signed to WWE, his or her last run of matches feels like a farewell tour as much as it is finishing out previously booked commitments. After wrestling his last ROH match against Steve Corino and his last PWG match against Trevor Lee (a.k.a. NXT’s Cameron Grimes), the future Kevin Owens’ last indie match was a random first-time ever match against Jerry “The King” Lawler. This match, held in August 2014 for New England indie Northeast Wrestling, was a 12-minute “Piledriver Match,” where the winner is the one who delivers a piledriver to his opponent first, which Lawler won.