Current WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens was today’s guest on “The Steve Austin Show”, and below are some interview highlights. You can listen to the entire interview at this link.
On His Interest in Other Sports:
I really can’t say that I am. I used to watch UFC when Brock fought, but when he stopped fighting I stopped watching. As far as other sports I played plenty of sports when I was a kid; Soccer, Baseball, Hockey, but when I discovered wrestling that was it. I just didn’t care about anything else and went head first 100% and pretty much became obsessed.
On Not Sightseeing Much When On the Road:
Unless I have personal appearances set up for the company, I usually bury myself in my room on my I-Pad watching ‘The Office’ for some reason, even though I have seen it a bunch of times. If I’m not watching wrestling, I’m watching ‘The Office’ because it brings me a sense of comfort from home. I’ve said this many times, and anybody who knows me will say that, but my wife and kids are everything to me so when I’m not with them I long for that feeling of home, so that is what I do. I sleep for as much as I can to make time to go by faster. Alaska was just one of those places that I may never get to see again, so I have to see the view. I’ve done that for a couple of places like Rome or Australia, but any other place around the country we go to, especially if I have been there more than once, I see my hotel room closed behind me and I’m happy. I just need those walls and bed.
On the Mixed Crowd Reaction He Gets:
I dig going in front of crowds that only see us once or twice a year. Obviously Germany or anywhere else, like Japan, especially considering it was my first international tour on the main roster and I was working with John Cena. It’s not a bad way to start, also what I remember from that, I was pretty new, and I started in May, when I got there, the entire arena knew who I was, it was really cool to how they responded to me. You know John always has that dynamic of a crowd where it was 50/50 of ‘Let’s go Cena, Cena sucks.’ The optimum reaction is when you have people that like you and hate you and then meet in the middle. John Cena has hat, Roman Reigns has that, and I find the clash being interesting.
On Being on the Road:
I would never say that because I don’t see that happening, simply because before I got here I was always on the road, 3-4 days a week in the Indy’s, and I started wrestling since I was 16. I obviously didn’t get as busy as today, it took me a while to get there, but 10 years in, by 2010-2011, I was working 3-4 times a week every week, and as great as my time was in the Indy’s, and as much as I enjoyed myself, I was really ready for it to be done because I always wanted to be in the WWE. It’s funny because I actually had this time while I was in Alaska, the bus that was supposed to pick us up didn’t show up so we had to take cabs, had to wait for 10 minutes in the blistering cold. The next day someone, who shall remain nameless, was complaining about it at the show in the trainer’s room, and I saw their point, but I said, look, if I came to Alaska for an Indy show, I would have been dragging my giant suitcase filled with merchandise and everything; there wouldn’t have been a bus anyway, and I would have had to of hopped into somebody’s car that is too small, that doesn’t have heating and would have driven me to his place where I would have had to sleep on his couch, in his basement, somebody who I barely know—so this is nothing. Who cares about taking a cab? Not only are we wrestling in front of thousands of people, but we are also taking a charter back to Vegas, so to me it’s nothing. I feel like, if you’ve been around on the Indy’s and stuff, the road is just a really easy sacrifice to make to live this life and achieve this dream—it sounds corny as hell, but it’s a dream.
On the Sacrifices of Being in the WWE:
There is no better feeling this side of getting married and having kids then getting the 1,2,3 and giving the crowd exactly what they wanted. There is no better satisfaction than that. Even beyond the ring, those 15, 20, 30 minutes I spend in the ring, that is why we do what we do as far as making the sacrifices from being away from our families and stuff like that. Obviously, the money and securing the future is part of it, but the passion I have for this, but part of the enjoyment, sometimes the best part of the night is getting in the car with the boys and driving to the next town and talking about what happened at the next show, what’s going to happen on Raw, what each person is going to do, etc. That is something I get a great deal of enjoyment from. How can we make the house shows better, how can we make each other better. That is part of being passionate about this industry. I really enjoy every aspect of this business; as hard as the road can be, and the only negative being away from your family, because once I get here, I am so zoned into what I am doing, and trying to make this the best place for the company. When I first arrived here, you[Austin] would give me advice on all the stuff that would go on here, and all that stuff always stays in my head and would share it with the guys I am close with. It’s a great feeling to be in a position where we can try to help make the show better; whether it is in the ring or outside of the ring, just everything to be on the road and be part of the show is everything I had waited and anticipated for.
