Wrestling / Kevin Owens

The Prizefighter.

"I will fight anyone and everyone, and that's why I'm the champ!"

Kevin Yanick Steen (born May 7, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler trained by Jacques Rougeau and Pierre Carl Oulette best known for his work in Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, and other independent promotions. He signed to WWE in 2014 and was put to work on its developmental brand, WWE NXT, as Kevin Owens.

Among the feds Steen has won titles in are Squared Circle Wrestling (2CW), Capital City Championship Combat (C*4), North Shore Pro Wrestling and All American Wrestling. In particular, he has been an ROH World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Champion (1-time each), as well as PWG World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Champion (3-times each). His partner for nearly all the aforementioned tag title victories, as well as his arch-enemy in the 2010 Wrestling Observer Feud of the Year in ROH, is his real-life best friend El Generico. They've since resumed their feud in NXT and WWE as Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, until Zayn turned heel in October 2017 and began teaming with Owens.

WWE's 16th Grand Slam Champion, Owens is a former NXT Champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE Universal Champion, a three-time WWE United States Champion, and a one-time Undisputed Tag Team Champion with Sami Zayn.

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"Fight, Tropes, Fight! Kill, Tropes, Kill!":

• Acrofatic: During his match with Chris Hero on the January 11 (taped January 4), 2014 episode of ROH, he climbed to the top turnbuckle and former SCUM stablemate and current commentator Steve Corino said, "For a big man, he can fly." And he's not lying, either—this wildebeest is capable of somersault planchas and top rope moonsaults!
  • Expect the WWE commentary team to lampshade this, particularly whenever he goes for the plancha or the frog splash.
  • He pulled out an old move of his - a springboard turnaround moonsault - on Raw one night in an Intercontinental title match against Seth Rollins. The crowd and the commentary team freaked out.
• Action Dad: He has a son and daughter. His character, in both its Face or Heel incarnations, is motivated in part by the aspect of giving them a better life.
• Affably Evil:
  • He's often very courteous and polite in interviews, even when he's ordering the interviewers to say what he wants them to say.
  • He was shown along with everyone else from NXT sans-character, visibly in tears when Triple H was making his speech on the death of Dusty Rhodes.
  • Crossing into Even Evil Has Standards, he was shown among the wrestlers who tried to break up the brawl between The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar in the weeks leading up to SummerSlam 2015.
• Always Someone Better:
  • Met and was defeated by Iceman, a bigger, fatter high flyer, during 1 Pro Wrestling Know Your Enemy 2006 in England. He'd get some measure of revenge in a tag match at westside Xtreme wrestling World Lightweight tournament later that year (neither were involved in the tournament itself, obviously).
  • Sami Zayn claims that he’s this to Owens, with the result of driving Owens into a barely-concealed rage.
  • Dean Ambrose. To this day Owens has yet to beat Ambrose clean in a one-on-one match.
• Anti-Hero: Since dropping a pipe bomb-esque speech on Shane McMahon, Owens has become the in-universe voice of disenchanted fans sick of Shane's overshadowing of the real talent, even adopting the Stunner as his new finisher.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • El Generico/Sami Zayn. Many, including Steen/Owens himself, have said that they are destined to fight forever, and considering it's already been fourteen years in over a dozen promotions, it looks to be proving true.
  • Jim Cornette. Steen hates Cornette so much, he will try to destroy entire promotions over Cornette's presence, and the loathing extends to Real Life.
  • John Cena, because he regards Cena's influence as a threat to his bond with his son.
  • Dean Ambrose. Unlike Zayn and Cena, there's no real reason beyond the Intercontinental Championship. They just don't like each other. In fact, from November 2015 to the end of 2016, Ambrose and Owens had fought each other almost a dozen times, and not once was Owens able to beat Ambrose (other than faking a disqualification on SmackDown 11/05/2015 by pretending to suffer a low blow from Ambrose).
  • Renee Young. Seriously, he will go out of his way to seek Renee out, be insufferably (though hilariously) rude to her, and leave. Considering that Renee was dating (and later married) the aforementioned Ambrose, that may be why.
  • After moving to SmackDown, Owens despised Shane McMahon's authority and accused him of screwing him out of the US Championship. Things eventually came to a head in September, when Kevin said that it would've been better for Shane's kids if he'd died in that helicopter incident a few months back. This led to their match at Hell in a Cell, but Sami Zayn sided with Kevin and the two proceeded to feud with Shane until losing to him and Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania.
    • When Shane turned heel and started his "Best in the World" gimmick, it only took a few months for Kevin to have had enough. On July 9th, 2019, he barreled down to ringside and hijacked a few live microphones to denounce Shane. Hardly a show has gone by since that Kevin hasn't attempted to or actually given Shane a Stunner. Kevin finally got Shane off TV "for good" (in actuality, about six months) by winning a "Loser Leaves WWE" match.
  • Seth Rollins. After five years of on and off feuding in Ring of Honor (both as singles wrestlers and tag-teaming - Seth with Jimmy Jacobs as Age of the Fall, Kevin with El Generico before turning on him), their WWE feud started in 2016. Owens won the fatal four-way for the vacant Universal Champion after interference by Triple H, screwing Rollins out of the title. Rollins got title matches against him at Clash Of Champions 2016 and Hell in a Cell 2016, but Owens successfully defended the title after interference by Chris Jericho. Rollins then started a feud with Jericho, and the Rollins/Owens feud went on hiatus until late 2019, though ironically they ended up with Swapped Roles at that point. Rollins turned heel by harshly criticizing the Raw roster for failing to win the majority of their matches at Survivor Series; Owens stood up for the roster as the babyface by hitting him with a Stunner. Thanks to Sanity Slippage, Seth went on to form an entire Power Stable by recruiting the Authors of Pain and Buddy Murphy to fight for him, while Kevin found himself teaming up with the likes of Samoa Joe, the Viking Raiders, and the Street Profits to combat them.
  • Roman Reigns. After Reigns was screwed over by Triple H, who handed Kevin the Universal Championship, Reigns and Owens had a feud throughout much of late 2016 and early 2017. However, Owens reignited his rivalry with Reigns after their drafting to Smackdown and Roman's Face–Heel Turn. Owens challenged Roman for the Universal Championship at TLC 2020, but was unsuccessful at winning the title, due to interference from Jey Uso. Kevin got a rematch in a Last Man Standing match at Royal Rumble 2021, going to extreme lengths to keep Roman down, but lost the match to Reigns and his referee interference.
  • Logan Paul. After Owens became number one contender for the United States Championship. In the episode 1/19/2024 of SmackDown, Owens invited Logan to the KO Show and told Logan that he disliked him because he's a celebrity not a wrestler. —>You're not centenary one of us. You're not a Rey Mysterio, you're not a Seth Rollins, you're not a Sami Zayn, you're not Kevin Owens. Owens and Logan have a match at Royal Rumble for the United States Championship and lose by disqualification after Owens accidentally wearing a brass knuckles and referee saw it. After the Rumble Owens demand a rematch for the United States Championship.
• The Atoner: In ROH, he ended up being the one to have to stop Jimmy Jacobs and SCUM, the monsters he created.
• Audience Surrogate: Described as such when Nigel McGuinness lamented that maybe that "Fat Loser" was right before telling the RoHbots to screw themselves and derisively comparing them to Steen.
  • With his Heel–Face Turn, has become one in WWE.
• Ax-Crazy Blood Knight: Definitively and proudly this as Steen. Pretends to be more benign about it as Owens, but the sadism is undeniable once he gets in a fight.
  • Shown on the December 28th episode of Raw, when after losing to Neville in 20 seconds, he lost it and completely destroyed Neville before being run off by Dean Ambrose. However, he returned and attacked Dean Ambrose after his match and powerbombed Ambrose through the announce table! After that, he had a calm, almost orgasmic reaction.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: As the WWE Universal Champion, while not wrestling.
• Bash Brothers: Mike Bailey, Pat Skillz, Jason Axe, Super Dragon, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Sexxxy Eddy, Akira Tozawa, Steve Corino. More recently, Chris Jericho, (ironically enough) Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns, and Samoa Joe.
• Beard of Evil: Inverted for his first Face–Heel Turn. After he turned on El Generico, he shaved his beard off.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Doubles as a Create Your Own Villain in one case. He opposed Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino's attempts to get clean of their addiction to evil until they gave in and joined him to create SCUM, a group fully intent on destroying Ring of Honor and remaking it into their image ala Christopher Daniels' former Prophecy stable. This decision would come back to bite Steen, as around the same time as he got second thoughts and began to love ROH again without Jim Cornette around (his issues with Cornette were what caused him to hate the company in the first place), Corino turned SCUM into a full-on army of evil. As soon as he lost the ROH title in part because of his own honor and refusal to take SCUM's help (though they stormed the ring anyway), he got violently kicked out of the stable and ROH soon became a matter of him vs. them.
  • Owens' repeated taunting of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin throughout the year leading up to Wrestlemania 38 ended very badly for him. After goading Austin to come out of retirement for one night to challenge him to a no-holds-barred match on the grandest stage of them all, Owens clearly thought he had the match won from the onset and was just looking to humiliate the older wrestler for kicks. Instead, a newly reinvigorated Austin took the fight to Owens with brutal aggression and ended their match with Owens knocked flat on his ass, utterly defeated. Even the commentary team lampshaded KO's stupidity by mentioning the trope almost word for word.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don't ever mock his son. Excalibur found out the hard way.
  • Don't ever make it to WWE before he does. He will swiftly and violently resent you.
  • Anything and everything to do with Sami Zayn is becoming this during his time at NXT. Adrian Neville and Alex Riley both called him out on his treatment of Zayn, and both got brutally punished for it. Zayn himself punched this button on purpose to secure a rematch with Owens at the May 2015 Takeover event. When Zayn made a surprise entry into the 2016 Royal Rumble, Owens lost his mind, and his rage doubled when Zayn eliminated him.
  • It's starting to become Shane McMahon interfering in his matches.
• Big Bad: For NXT. In contrast to heels like Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd, who were sleazy but not monstrous, Owens has set himself up as the near-unstoppable monster who will do anything to see the entire NXT Universe laid at his feet.
• Big Damn Heroes: He along with El Generico and Delirious came out together to save Tyler Black from Jimmy Jacobs's thugs and bring the Age of the Fall to an end.
• Big Fun: As a face.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • A native of Quebec, subjecting him to this promo set before a ROH show in Montreal: Steen attempts to con Colt Cabana into saying "I slept with my mom last night," only for Cabana to switch "my" with "his" while acting oblivious to the con or to how he made it backfire on Steen.
  • Steen also did two promos for this show entirely in Quebecois, neither of which were subtitled by Ring of Honor—albeit they're straight-forward and serious instead.
  • Goes into a rant in Quebecois on the 2018 Royal Rumble pre-show (which, according to French-speaking YouTubers, is partly agreeing with fans from Quebec that it would be amazing to see two Quebecois as the WWE Champion, mostly about how he could be saying anything right now, everyone only speaks English, he could be insulting someone's mother and no one would know), and makes this comment when Renee Young can't follow what he's saying:
  Kevin: (in French) Of course we lost you, you're from Ontario.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Congratulated Zayn on his win at NXT Takeover: R-Evolution…and attacked him seconds later. And he's done this before, too — see Wham Line for that one.
  • After the Festival of Friendship and the end of New New Day, one wonders why anyone trusts Kevin Owens.
• Blatant Lies: On SmackDown, March 3, 2016, he claims that he won't attack an injured Dean Ambrose from behind because he's a nice guy, seconds before doing so. Luckily, Ambrose was smart enough to predict his intention and easily fights him back.
  • He said that he had the utmost respect for Vince McMahon before headbutting him, causing him to bleed.
• Blood Knight: Could practically be a devotee of Khorne for how much he loves to destroy his opponents. His first promo for NXT even had him declaring how he would fight anyone and everyone.
• Bookends:
  • Steen would start his eternal war with former best friend El Generico with a steel chair shot to the head at Final Battle 2009. At Final Battle 2010, Generico would send him packing from ROH with a similar chair shot to the head — the same steel chair from the year prior, still smeared with the blood of Generico.
  • In 2017, Sami Zayn turned heel to save Kevin from a legacy-obsessed son of a wrestling dynasty. In 2023, Sami Zayn turned babyface to save Kevin from a legacy-obsessed son of a wrestling dynasty.
• The Brute
  • Of Mount Rushmore, basically there to keep challengers away from Adam Cole, who was very appreciative of the service.
  • Won "Best Brawler" from the Wrestling observer for three years in a row (2010, 11, 12)
• The Bully: Not only does he find pleasure in beating people up, he often starts a fight for no reason. His short feud with Alex Riley began after Owens mocked Riley one time too often.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: This trope, combined with Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, is the origin of Logan Paul's path to becoming a wrestler. After being way too annoyed by Logan's presence alongside Sami Zayn at Wrestlemania 38 and Logan trying to co-opt Kevin's victory celebration, Kevin simply Stunnered Logan and left him in the middle of the ring, completely unconcerned. A humiliated Logan swore revenge, beginning to train as a wrestler and eventually, became United States champion to Kevin's challenger.
• Catchphrase: "THAT'S WHY I'M THE CHAMP!", usually said after beating down someone in the ring.
  • "THIS IS THE KEVIN OWENS SHOW!"
• Changed My Mind, Kid: For several weeks, Owens refuses to team with Sami against the Bloodline. But on March 17, 2023 episode of SmackDown, just before the end of the show, KO came back to save Sami from the Usos' attack and the two embraced in front of the WWE Universe, along with Cody Rhodes.
• Chekhov's Gun: Owens said in his intro promo that he'd fight anyone. Including, as it turned out, his best friend Sami.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder:
  • During his ROH days, Steen betrays El Generico after years of being friends. When he debuts in WWE as Kevin Owens, one of the first things he does is attack Sami Zayn (formerly El Generico), thus reigniting their feud.
  • After winning the Universal Championship, Owens forms an alliance with Chris Jericho and the two become close friends. A few months later, Owens eventually attacks Jericho in what was supposed to be a celebration of their friendship.
  • After a short run (mostly for his hometown Montreal crowd) as an honorary member of The New Day, Owens turns on Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, as Kingston has the WWE championship.
  • As mentioned under Dirty Coward, he would normally abandon his tag team partner whenever he was about to lose in a tag team match.
• Combat Commentator: For Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and EVOLVE.
• Continuity Nod:
  • His NXT debut vignettes made references to his indy history with Adrian Neville (formerly known as PAC), Daniel Bryan (formerly known as Bryan Danielson), Seth Rollins (formerly known as Tyler Black), and, of course, his friendship with Sami Zayn.
  • Sami Zayn himself references the many, many years of history he and Owens have, as a means of punching Owens’ personal Berserk Button.
  • On 2/13/17, the JeriKO bromance came to a violent end when KO did to Jericho what Jericho did to Shawn Michaels what Michaels did to Marty Jannetty: capped off a betrayal beating by sending him headfirst through a glass object.
  • During the "NXT Invasion" leading up to Survivor Series 2019, Triple H made a slew of references to Kevin's indy days, the manner in which Hunter helped him win the Universal Championship, his success in NXT, and the real-life friction between Kevin and the WWE brass (particularly Vince McMahon) who didn't see him fitting the mold.
• The Cracker: Actually hacked the ROH message boards to play his videos.
• Crowd Chant:
  • When against him: "You're a bitch!" and/or "Show your tits!"
  • When for him: "Fight, [Steen/Owens], Fight!" and/or "Kill, [Steen/Owens], Kill!"
• Crazy Consumption: Once devoured a paper fan during a PWG World Title defense against Brian Cage because "Ole" (which he associates with El Generico) was written on it.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • He won the NXT Championship from Sami Zayn in a hugely one sided match with only brief bursts of offense from Zayn.
  • He was on the receiving end of one during Fastlane 2017 in only 22 seconds. Then again, his opponent was Goldberg.
• David Versus Goliath: The Goliath to LuFisto's David regarding the CZW Ironman Title. Her defeating him prevented Steen from using the belt as a bargaining chip to get an ROH contract.
  • He was also the Goliath to Sami Zayn's David in NXT.
  • He was the David to Braun Strowman's Goliath.
• Deadpan Snarker
  • He's usually not "deadpan" at all, but he does have his moments, such as when he imitated Nigel McGuinness' rebound lariat.
  • He once responded to "show your tits" with the insinuation no one present had enough money.
  • His dismissal of overly-eager backstage interviewers is usually an annoyed "shut up".
• Determinator: As a babyface in WWE, you'd better park a semi on top of Kevin if you want to keep him down. Roman Reigns resorted to handcuffing Kevin to the set to keep him from winning a Last Man Standing match.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • It's safe to say that no one, not even Owens himself, expected Triple H to Pedigree his successor Seth Rollins, let alone literally hand-deliver the Universal Championship to Owens. It was such a shocking twist that Owens actually sat stunned in the ring corner for nearly half a minute before making the cover and the three count.
  • Nobody, not Shane McMahon, not the audience, and not Kevin, expected Sami Zayn to pull Owens to safety during Hell in a Cell 2017. Not even Zayn himself expected the first heel turn in an over fifteen-year career to start with saving his biggest Arch-Enemy from a Leap of Faith.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
  • Made an unexpected appearance on Raw in May 2015, responding to an open challenge from John Cena, and then (after telling Cena where to shove the US Title) hitting Cena with a pop-up powerbomb and leaving him flat on his back in the ring. Two weeks later, he topped that by beating Cena clean as a whistle.
  • During his TLC 2020 match against Roman Reigns, Owens was driven to such desperation to combat Roman and Jey's dirty tactics that he successfully headbutted Roman off the ladder. One does not simply headbutt a Samoan, and Owens pulled it off.
• Dirty Coward: As a heel.
  • When it is clear that he is going to lose in a tag team match, he will normally abandon his partner and walk away.
  • Not once did he successfully defend the Universal Championship without any outside interference. In fact, he often complained whenever he had to defend any of his championships.
• Enemy Mine:
  • What looked to be the beginning of a program with Samoa Joe in Northern Championship Wrestling instead became one with Franky The Mobster and Chase Ironside, with Joe helping Steen. A year later though, it would be Steen and Franky teaming up to get rid of Joe.
  • His gambit to incapacitate Braun Strowman during Money in the Bank 2018. He went to each individual competitor in the match and convinced them that they should team up to take Braun out. Kevin's plan actually goes well during the first part of the match, but it inevitably breaks down after Braun proves too much for them to handle.
• Establishing Character Moment: So, about a minute after succumbing to Manly Tears during his first official entrance on NXT, the bell rings for his debut match against CJ Parker. Parker starts "circling the ring" per the typical match opening sequence—SPLAT! He's crushed in the corner courtesy of a charging Kevin Owens. Followed up by celebrating Sami Zayn's NXT title win... and then immediately dropping him on the ramp and powerbombing him into the ring apron.
  • For the people that weren't quite as aware of him on RAW, he made a guest appearance during the John Cena U.S. Title Open Challenge a couple weeks after Sami Zayn accepted the challenge. He immediately told Cena that he would only fight for the title on his own terms (which would later be revealed that it would be a PPV match at the Elimination Chamber), then attacked him mid-speech and pop-up powerbombed him. He followed that up by LITERALLY stomping on Cena's US Championship belt and taunting Cena with his own "You Can't See Me" gesture.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • He preferred Stephanie over her brother Shane, saying that the latter is unbiased.
  • "People like me don't go to hell. No, no, people like me...go to HEAVEN!"
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He claims to enjoy beating the hell out of people because it, at the end of the day, means he can put more food on his family's table. While this is probably only slightly more true for him than it was for Heisenberg toward the end, it is notable that while 2/3 of his respectably active Twitter account is him heeling it up in exchanges with fans and fellow WWE wrestlers, the last 1/3 still seems to be dedicated to pictures of his family...
• Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted. No, he really doesn’t. About the only thing we haven’t seen him do on NXT is attack someone backstage. And Kevin Owens being in the area when Hideo Itami came up injured in the parking lot before Takeover: Unstoppable is a strange coincidence...
  • He did at least once in PWG, when the World's Cutest Tag Team took on The Young Bucks for the PWG Tag Team Titles. Despite being allied with the Bucks, Steen (who was on commentary) said that even he felt that the Bucks kicking a barely-standing Candice LeRae in the head while wearing a shoe with thumbtacks glued to the sole was too much.
  • When Sasha Banks mocked and stole a headband from Bayley's biggest fan Izzy during Takeover: Respect, causing the poor girl to break into tears, Owens tweeted that he found the act disgusting. When Kevin Owens says you've disgusted him...
  • At a recent house show in Montreal, when WWE champion Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers threatened to attack legendary wrestler Pat Patterson, Owens not only came to Pat's defense, but he also joined his nemesis Sami Zayn in running off the champ and attacking the Singh Brothers. ^note (Although to be fair, both Sami and Kevin are from the Montreal area; house shows are completely non-canon to Kayfabe unless WWE specifically mentions otherwise, and it's something of a tradition for sufficiently popular wrestlers returning to their home country/state for a house show to be booked as faces for a day even if they're heels when the cameras are rolling.)
• Evil Genius
  • Zayn described Owens as this before Takeover: Rival. His Evil Plan worked to perfection: Beat the crap out of your debut opponent. Betray Sami Zayn violently after he wins the title the same night. Get him super pissed off at you so you can cut in line for an NXT title shot. Piss him off some more to throw him off his game. Take advantage of the first opening he gives you to shoot his momentum dead. Pound him into the canvas like your name is Brock Lesnar. NXT Champion: Kevin Owens. Profit!
• Exact Words: He had Mr. McMahon promise that he cold "beat a McMahon senseless" if provoked as part of his deal to wrestle Shane in Hell in a Cell... and immediately attacked Mr. McMahon. Some would say that was unprovoked, but Vince did just threaten to fire him if he went through with a lawsuit against him.
• Face–Heel Turn:
  • One of the truly epic ones in Ring of Honor, telling his tag partner El Generico that he hated his guts before taking a chair to Generico's head.
  • Upon his debut at Takeover: R-Evolution, Owens was cheered as a longtime indy favorite... until he turned on Sami Zayn an hour or so later.
  • The "Big O" was looking to be a fan favorite and honorary member of the New Day, filling in for an injured Big E. This lasted two weeks, until Owens decided to superkick Kofi Kingston, powerbomb Xavier Woods against the ring apron, and let them know he was coming for Kingston's WWE championship.
• Family Man: The core of his character, heel or face, since 2008. Everything Kevin does is for his family.
• Fat and Skinny: With Sami Zayn and Chris Jericho.
• Fat Bastard: The bringer of disaster. Disaster being the state of your promotion until he sees the look on your face as one of your title belts is strapped around his fat waist.
• Faux Affably Evil: As Owens on NXT, he plays up how wrestling puts food on his family's table for all kinds of sympathy, but his actions are still those of a complete psychopath and Blood Knight, albeit toned down to account for content rating.
• Finishing Move: The package piledriver first and foremost.
  • Has also used the sharpshooter, a crossface, an alleyoop variant on the package piledriver called the Steenalizer, and an F5 called the F-Cinq (and later "Deep Sea Diverticulitis").
  • In WWE, he uses the pop-up powerbomb and on rare occasions the (not-yet-named on television) Argentine neckbreaker/Hercules Cutter. Starting as of his return in 2019, he demoted both to signature moves and began using the "Stone Cold" Stunner as his finisher instead, to the delight of audiences everywhere.
• Five Moves of Doom: Notably, during his feud with John Cena, Owens actually took to stealing his entire iconic sequence of two flying shoulder blocks, sit-out belly-to-back bomb, Five Knuckle Shuffle, and Attitude Adjustment, even against wrestlers besides Cena himself. He rarely actually wins the match with it, though.
• Foil/Shadow Archetype: As Kevin Owens, oddly enough, to Adrian Neville. Both feuded with Sami Zayn over the NXT title with the premise being that Zayn is the honorable guy where as Owens/Neville is willing to do whatever it takes to be champion. Difference is, Neville still has standards. He'll take shortcuts if they're presented to him, but he's a valiant competitor at heart, and he legitimately cares about his friends even if he has to screw them over to beat them from time to time. Owens, on the other hand, will mentally and physically dissect you, intentionally piss you off in order to make you give him shortcuts, then thank you for the opening by beating you into the ground until you can't resist his force anymore. And that's if you're his best friend.
• Foreign Wrestling Heel: Invoked by Owens during the 6/22/2015 episode of RAW to mock Cena's superhero persona, and does it by issuing the challenge for the US title in Battleground while speaking in French.
• For the Evulz: His rationale for powerbombing Machine Gun Kelly off the stage:
  "Because I felt like it. Grow up."
• Fun with Acronyms: KO, Lampshaded by one of his shirts. Becomes an ominous dose of Foreshadowing when he literally does exactly that to win the NXT title.
• Garbage Wrestler: As Steen, albeit tame by most standards (and in fact, wanted out of CZW), but he's notorious for pushing for more tables, ladders, chairs and piledrivers through them, against the "pure wrestling" grain ROH likes to put first and foremost.
• Genre Savvy: Don't try a pendulum lariat against this guy. He walked out of the way of Nigel McGuinness' when they wrestled in 2008, and later dumped Dean Ambrose out of the ring when he tried the same move.
• Good Is Dumb: His argument against Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino's redemption quest.
  • Tends to be one of his arguments against John Cena as well.
• Grand Slam Champion: Achieved his Grand Slam Champ status on April 1, 2023 at Wrestlemania 39 with a tag team win with best enemy Sami Zayn.
• Gratuitous French: "The F-Cinq".
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Heaven help you if you’re one of the people he thinks got in his way to the top, or beat him to an opportunity.
  • If his son is a fan of any wrestler other than Owens, he will show said wrestler no mercy.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: During he and Sami Zayn's tag run in mid-2023 to the present, this has become a hallmark of Kevin's character.
• Happily Married: To his wife Karina. It's his motivation for turning on Zayn and attempting to become champion, or so he says (see Nothing Personal).
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: As of July 2019, he's been in order - a face, a heel, a face, a heel, and now sliding back toward face. To be fair, he was always going to return as a fan-favorite, not to mention anyone contending with Kofi Kingston mid-"Kofimania" was going to have to be a heel. His use of the Stunner seems to be a signal that, like his hero Austin, Owens can work as a heel, a face, and anything in between.
• Heel–Face Turn: Upon being kicked out of SCUM after his world title loss to Jay Briscoe.
  • Upon his return to WWE in February 2019, after double knee surgery. While fans were a bit angry at how he returned (taking Kofi Kingston's WWE title shot at Fastlane) and predicted he'd be the vicious heel that he's usually portrayed in his career, Owens has been steadily working as a babyface against the likes of Daniel Bryan, and later became the top babyface on Smackdown against Roman Reigns.
• Here We Go Again!: June 2004, Kevin Steen betrays El Generico on the night of Generico's first title win, starting their eternal war in IWS. December 2009, Kevin Steen betrays El Generico after a tag team loss, starting their eternal war in Ring of Honor. December 2014, Kevin Owens debuts in NXT the night Sami Zayn wins his first title, betraying him and starting their eternal war in WWE.
• Hero Antagonist: His rebellion against CZW would probably be seen as heroic if it had been in any other promotion besides CZW, especially during the ROH feud where Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Necro Butcher, John Zandig, Super Dragon (and the rest) came off as a bunch of green eyed villain protagonists. Attempting to give them CZW's Ironman title belt was probably a step too far, but wasn't any worse than Hero's goal for the ROH World title.
• He's Back!: He didn't want to go through a "reform" angle, since the Bravado Brothers had already done that. So instead a "sympathy" angle was worked where Steen would gain fan support by running in at ROH shows trying to get his job back only to be done away with. Probably ended up working a little too well, given S.C.U.M. were cheered till he left.
  • February 26, 2019, introduced by Vince McMahon as the worthier challenger to Daniel Bryan's WWE Championship. Probably the only person in the entire WWE that could withstand the fans' anger at delaying "Kofimania", and indeed, at Fastlane, Owens was cheered opposite Bryan (while even super-babyface Mustafa Ali was booed). It helps that Owens is genuinely hilarious and a great performer, and continually shows support for Kofi.
  • After months of feuding with Ezekiel following his defeat at the hands of Stone Cold during WrestleMania and turning into a more comedic character that was comically the only one who doubted "Ezekiel"'s identity, he finally snapped during the August 8, 2022 episode of Raw and beat the living hell out of him. This signaled the return of his brutal NXT "Prizefighter" self, with Kevin saying afterwards that the real KO is back.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Kevin Steen and Rami Sebei (Zayn/Generico) in Real Life. For over sixteen years, they've lived next door to each other in two countries and traveled the world together.
• Hidden Depths: Outside of the ring, is fairly quiet and introverted. Loves his kids, video games, and anything involving animals (especially zoos).
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Found himself with no friends after being kicked out of SCUM and having to fight through everyone in the group by himself. At Best in the World 2013, June 22, 2013, he lost a No-DQ match to Matt Hardy which featured interference from Jimmy Jacobs, Rhett Titus and Cliff Compton.
  • After working Sami Zayn into a rage and claiming that he was only interested in the title, not a grudge match, in order to manipulate Zayn into giving him a title shot…two months later, Sami Zayn comes back, works Owens into a rage, and uses Owens’ own words in order to manipulate Owens into granting him a rematch. It’s not so fun being on the receiving end of your own tactics, is it, Kevin?
• Hourglass Plot: His overarching feud with Shane McMahon that started on his move to Smackdown has endured through Shane's Face–Heel Turn and Owens' Heel–Face Turn.
• Hypocrite:
  • He's mocked Rusev for being fat.
  • While on commentary during the 2017 Independence Day Battle Royal, Owens mocks Mojo Rawley for betraying his tag team partner Zack Ryder.
  • After failing to win the United States Championship again, Owens complained that a McMahon screwed a Canadian again, before saying that Bret Hart deserved to be screwed.
• I'll Kill You!: His reaction to seeing Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards wrestle and fight with everything they had at Final Battle 2011 and then respectfully shake hands after it was over, since that was a sign of the Code of Honor, which he thought was stupid at the time, being in anti-ROH mode.
  • In NXT, this tends to be his reaction to anyone who wounds him or makes him look weak.
  • His reaction to Sami Zayn's main-roster debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble. Or, you know, any time he and Zayn set eyes on each other from 2016-2017.
• Improbable Weapon User: He's attacked Dean Ambrose with a laptop. Also hit AJ Styles with The List of Jericho at Survivor Series.
• Irony: Kevin Owens, the man who spent his entire career proclaiming that all of the violence he dealt out was in service to his family, the man who justified brutally turning on and beating down his best friend by saying taking Zayn's NXT championship meant that he could better provide for his family... is now furious at Roman Reigns for using the exact same excuse.
• Irrational Hatred
  • He's had this for El Generico since they were partners in ROH, and it later extended to Jim Cornette. Really, does eating paper fans for having a single word associated with Generico and creating card-carrying evil factions for destroying entire wrestling companies over just him and Cornette sound like something a rational man would do?
  • Threatened to kill The American Wolves for what basically amounted to remaining friends despite going all out in their competition for the ROH World Title. At least, that's the most rational way to break down his rant.
• I Shall Taunt You: He loves to taunt his opponents with their own poses or moves, sarcastically applaud and yell "YAY!" whenever an opponent tries and fails to get some offense against him, and generally never, ever shuts up both in or out of the ring.
• Juxtaposed Halves Shot:
  • Him and El Generico in promotional posters for ROH Final Battle 2012.
  • WWE blatantly swiped the shot for Owens vs. Zayn at Battleground 2016.
• Kayfabe: Is one of many who insist that Generico is not the same person as Zayn and actually is a Mexican luchador. He adds a particularly dark addition to this claim, though—that El Generico was found dead in a ditch in Mexico.
  • Even in shoot interviews, he and Sami Zayn are forever committed to downplaying their friendship whilst playing up their mutual contempt for one another. Before he debuted on NXT (and turned on Zayn), Steen once did an interview where he insisted he wasn't that close with Zayn, all the while wearing one of Zayn's shirts.
• Kick the Dog:
  • When Hideo Itami was found injured at the parking lot, Owens simply laughed at him.
  • On August 8 2017, Kevin Owens says that Bret Hart deserved to be screwed, right in front of their own home country.
• Knight of Cerebus:
  • The conflict between Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville was intense, but still pretty light-hearted by wrestling standards. Then along comes Kevin Owens who within two months of his debut betrayed his best friend Sami Zayn, established himself as NXT's resident Manipulative Bastard by manipulating Zayn and Regal into giving him a title shot, and then became the new champion by savagely beating Sami Zayn into the ground in one of NXT's biggest Wham Episodes.
  • He continued this trend as NXT Champion, first by beating Adrian Neville until he had to be carried from the ring on a stretcher, then by slamming Alex Riley against a steel fence repeatedly. And just to add more fuel to the fire, he would go onto become one of the few people in the entire history of the WWE to go over John Cena cleanly.
• Knuckle Tattoos: He has both his grandfathers' initials tattooed on his left hand fingers; "MSPB" standing for Melvin Steen and Pierre Benoit.
• Learnt English from Watching Television: Credits pro wrestling and Friends for teaching him English.
• Left Hanging:
  • Triple H betrayed and attacked Seth Rollins in order to let Kevin win the vacant Universal Title. Everyone, even Kevin, was shocked, confused, and wondering why Triple H sided with Kevin. This incident happened in August 2016, and there were absolutely no hints afterwards as to why this occurred. Furthermore, when Triple H reappeared in February of the next year, he only implied that he did so only to screw Rollins for failing to meet his expectations and made no mention of Owens, but that only makes the fact that he posed alongside Owens like Owens was his new protege look odd.
  • Will we ever find out who pied Kevin Owens in the face at the end of the 2016 4th of July party?
• Legacy Character: JJ Pérez was already Mr. Wrestling #4 when Steen "took" the title through association with Mr. Wrestling #3.
• Lesser of Two Evils: He expressed his hatred of Adam Cole to his face but after failing to defeat him decided helping Cole in his PWG endeavors was better than sucking Cole's dick, as was forcing other people to do so in his place (except The Young Bucks, they're good Christian boys).
• Loser Leaves Town
  • Lost to El Generico, kicking him out of ROH. He came back about a year later.
  • Begged to be allowed to stay in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and not be shipped back to CZW after losing a similar match to Bryan Danielson (there were calls from the crowd to send him to Mexico instead).
• Manipulative Bastard: He’s shown himself to be very, very good at punching people’s buttons in ways that let him take brutal advantage of them.
• Morality Pet: El Generico/Sami Zayn...or so we thought. Averted with Sami's heel turn, as it seems that finally turning Sami to the dark side has made KO more self-assured and smug than he was originally, if such a thing's even possible.
• Meaningful Rename: His WWE surname "Owens" refers to his son, Owen — who was named in tribute to Owen Hart.
• Medium Awareness: There will be times when Owens is aware he is a character on a wrestling show and gets incensed when some doesn't adhere to the tropes of one.
• Merchandise-Driven: He turned on the PWG fans and all the wrestlers who get more cheers/sell more merchandise than himself with the justification he had arrived in the promotion with 100 shirts but only sold 60 when five hundred people were in attendance.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: His "match" with Sami Zayn at Takeover: Rival. To the point where the referee actually had to stop the match and declare Owens the winner by default, just so Owens would stop powerbombing Zayn.
  • He had a rep for these in NXT, to the point where it was getting hard to find a title contender he hadn’t beaten the crap out of.
  • Owens unleashed another one on Chris Jericho after winning the US title he lost two days before at Payback 2017. He brutally assaulted his "friend" to cause serious injuries in-kayfabe, so that Jericho could go on tour with Fozzy.
  • His latest assault victim: Mr. McMahon himself. Starting with a headbutt that cut Vince the hard way, then a superkick, and then a frog splash…all because of his hatred towards Shane.
  • He and Sami unleashed two of these in the buildup to Wrestlemania 34, one right after the other. The first was HelluvaBombing Shane McMahon, then putting a chair around his throat and running him into the turnbuckle, and finally dragging him backstage to powerbomb him into some equipment. The second was to Daniel Bryan, on the night of his return to in-ring competition, and while it was clear Kevin and Sami didn't intend on the beatdown from the beginning, after Daniel fired them, they had to get revenge by Helluva Kicking him and then powerbombing him onto the ring apron.
• Not So Above It All: He's normally the Straight Man to Chris Jericho's deluded, aging rock star and gets exasperated at Jericho's more eccentric moments - but since winning the Universal Championship he's frequently seen egging Jericho on in humiliating Tom Phillips or putting people on the List of Jericho...
• Not So Similar: Was going to spare Eddie Kingston on his path to reshape the pro wrestling industry in his own image because he felt Kingston already was. Eddie was flattered until Kevin made it plain he planned to do away with ROH and set his sights on "bullshit Mickey Mouse promotion" Chikara afterwards.
• Nothing Personal: Claimed that attacking Zayn wasn't personal at all — he simply wants the title because it means he'd get paid more, and he has a wife and two children to support. If Zayn's declaration that he should've seen it coming because Kevin's an Evil Genius is a Continuity Nod to his history as Steen, then this is a complete lie — he once intended to destroy ROH, a company responsible for feeding the livelihoods of many of its talents there, and turn it into a Wretched Hive uninhabitable for babyface wrestlers, all over his personal issues with Generico and Cornette. This was the entire reason Jay Briscoe hated him when he was part of SCUM.
• Oh, Crap!: Alright, so Royal Rumble 2016 wasn't going KO's way. He just lost his rematch for the Intercontinental Title against Dean Ambrose in a brutal Last Man Standing match. He could barely walk on the way to the ring for the actual Rumble match. But things were looking up, he eliminated fan favorite AJ Styles. Then Ambrose comes out to attack him again. Strike two, but alright, he recovered. Then Sami Zayn debuts and beelines for him. Cue complete Villainous Breakdown. Zayn eliminates him shortly afterwards.
  • When left stranded on the top of a ladder in the 2018 Money in the Bank ladder match with a rampaging Braun Strowman gunning for him, KO spends his final moments active in the match begging for his life and trying desperately to scramble down the ladder in time before Strowman grabs him and tosses him through a table.
• Older Hero Versus Younger Villain: As a younger villain, he's wrestled against John Cena, Chris Jericho, AJ Styles, Shane McMahon, Daniel Bryan, Braun Strowman, Kofi Kingston, and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. As an older hero, he once teamed up with fellow older heroes Samoa Joe and Big Show to wrestle against Seth Rollins and AOP. He's also wrestled singles matches against Logan Paul, Jey Uso and Roman Reigns.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Since taking the John Cena United States Open Challenge, Owens appears to make it his mission to stop ANYONE from winning the title off Cena. At the time of this edit, it's up to three instances. Owens has robbed Neville, Cesaro, and Rusev. The Rusev instance is even more ridiculous because Rusev, Cesaro and Owens had a Number 1 Contender Match for the right to take Cena up on the Open, and Owens abandoned said match halfway through. He returned to kick Rusev in the jaw, causing a DQ in the title defense. This is a man fond of taking his ball (in this case, the right to strip Cena of the US gold) and going home.
• Only Sane Man: Definitely this in his partnership with deluded egomaniac Chris Jericho. The Gift of Jericho particularly seems to irk him.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Brought his then-six-month-old son Owen to a PWG show, only for Excalibur to call him ugly. He would make Excalibur pay with three package piledrivers, then have little Owen pin him for three.
  • Brought up in NXT often that he's doing all that he does for his family. It's unclear if this is a subversion or played straight yet. He did seem to show his first actual emotions after Sami said that Owens' kid likes him more then Kevin.
• Pet the Dog: ROH Undeniable 2007 — Kevin Steen declined an offer from the Hangmen 3 after they attacked El Generico. However…see Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
• Phrase Catcher: His opponents have been warned on occasion that "Kevin's gonna kill you!"
  • ____, Steen/Owens, ____!
    • Commonly filled in with "fight," "rest" (during rest holds), and, when the audience hates his opponent/he's being absolutely brutal in the ring, "kill."
• Pie in the Face: Infamously, this happened to him at the end of the 2016 4th of July party at WWE. They never revealed who did it. It's since become a Running Gag among wrestling fans that Kevin is still looking for whoever did it.
• Playing the Victim Card: His feud with Shane McMahon in 2017 had him comparing himself to other victims of the McMahon family's corruption when most of the time it was Kevin's fault to begin with.
• Power Stable:
  • In PWG he had Mount Rushmore, also featuring Adam Cole and The Young Bucks.
  • In ROH he had SCUM (Suffering, Chaos, Ugliness & Mayhem), which was a Power Trio with Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs until Corino made it a 9-man stable bent on destroying ROH.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • After giving a stunner to Dolph Ziggler, this is what KO said: "SCREW YOU! SCREW YOU! THIS IS MY GODDAMN SHOW! THIS! IS! MY! SHOW!"
  • His opinion to Seth Rollins having nothing to do with the AOP (Akam/Rezar)? "Bullshit". And it wasn't even censored on TV.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Throws a fit of rage whenever he loses a match or when nothing goes the way he wanted.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Defeated Braun Strowman in a steel cage match after Strowman threw him from the top of the cage through an announce table, thus fulfilling the "Escape the cage" victory stipulation.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: His and Sami's signature spot - locking eyes and immediately running to hockey-punch each other.
• Red Baron: Has had several. "Wrestling's Worst Nightmare", "Mr. Wrestling", "The Antichrist of Professional Wrestling" (yes, the same title Jeff Hardy and Vince Russo have been called before). WWE simply settles for "The Prizefighter".
• Reformed, but Rejected: He initially was on board with Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino's redemption quest, but ROH security forced him out of the building the day he was supposed to be let back in and that was the end of good Steen…till he dragged Jacobs and Corino down with him and they turned on him.
• The Resenter
  • Owens is one to all the wrestlers mentioned under Continuity Nod, having said bitterly in a promo that despite knowing them for years and being just as good as them, all of them got brought into WWE before he did.
  • He's especially a resenter to Sami Zayn, saying that Zayn stole Owens' chance to arrive in NXT at the same time.
• The Rival: The Briscoes first and foremost. The Americans Wolves or The Super Smash Brothers fall right behind them.
• Screaming Warrior: Has a tendency to scream incoherently with rage whenever he feels he's losing or being screwed over. Most startling is when he does it after he wins, as if he's livid that he can't destroy MORE.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He tends to walk out on matches and occasionally abandon his tag partners if he doesn't like the way the match is going.
  • He and Sami pulled a particularly amusing version of this on the pre-Survivor Series Smackdown show, leaving The New Day to the mercy of The Shield.
  • On August 27, 2018 Raw, he quit WWE after being demolished by Braun Strowman on Summerslam 2018 and failing to beat Seth Rollins for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. He came back soon after.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: At ROH Unbreakable 2007, Steen told Adam Pearce he was the only one who would have fun smacking Generico around. Two years later…
• Self-Serving Memory: A week before Fastlane 2017, Owens bragged about how he defeated some of the top stars in the company, one of them being Dean Ambrose. The only problem is, not only has Owens never beat Ambrose in a one-on-one match before, Ambrose often was the one who came out on top whenever they had a brawl.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: He talked shit on Dolph Ziggler for his "It should have been me" tendencies. Though Ziggler remained defiant.
  Kevin: No! No! You're not gonna come out here and talk about how "it should have been you", "it should have been me", "it should have been you", "it should have been you", "it should have—". Yeah, it should have been you. It should have been you eight years ago. And it was kinda, then it wasn't, and it's not going to be again, and it's not gonna happen, JUST GET! OVER! IT!
• Signature Move: Sidewinder suplex, Go Home Driver (swinging Schwein), bottom turnbuckle cannonball, super kick, swan dive senton bomb, Enzuigiri, standing Harlem Hangover, pump handle neck breaker (Steen breaker). He still uses most of these at least occasionally in WWE, and he added the package sidewalk slam, the swinging fisherman's superplex, and the frog splash.
• Slasher Smile: How he copes with the sight of his own blood.
  • As of his run in NXT, this seems to be his general reaction at the sight of his opponents sprawled on the mat in front of him.
• Small Name, Big Ego:
  • Owens' run as the Universal Championship seems to get over his head to the point he thinks he can defeat Goldberg without any assistance. What he forgot was that all his championship defenses, plus him winning the title the first place, were because of outside interference.
  • The night after Survivor Series 2017, Kevin proclaims that he and Sami could defeat the Shield, Brock Lesnar and even all 5 men on Team Raw.
• Smug Snake: On the main roster, where his tactical mind is downgraded to simple cowardice and his in-ring skill is reduced to him just being another mid-carder (which in the WWE is more or less the same as a jobber these days). On NXT, he's a Magnificent Bastard.
• The Sociopath: "Two months to the day, you walk out of NXT Rival as the NXT Champion, but leaving your former best friend being tended to by medical staff, what emotions are you feeling right now?" "I'm overjoyed," and if you're paying attention, that's the moment you know that this family man has a black soul.
  • The hilarious irony, however, is that he's NOT. He tries to be one, he tries to act like an unfeeling businessman, but the fact that he keeps trying to justify himself, the fact that he keeps trying to play the role of the family man, the fact that his voice catches and he can never maintain eye contact or give a straight answer when people call him out. It all breaks the façade. No matter how much he might want to be, he's not a Sociopath, he's a cowardly thug. But he hides behind these grandiose ideas, because he's too afraid to admit to himself what a lowly person he's become.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Pre-2023, Owens contrasted with almost every heel in the entire WWE because of how calm he acted. No matter how cruel he may treat you in the ring or how much he hates you, he'll never get louder than maybe somewhat of an outdoor voice because of the nature of the game.
• Sore Loser:
  • Almost every time he lost a match, even in matches he intentionally gets himself disqualified, he will take his anger out on the winner.
  • After his match with Adrian Neville ended in a double count out, Owens' response was to powerbomb Neville on the ring apron. And that was a draw!
  • Did the same thing to Cena after losing to him at Money in the Bank 2015.
  • He seemed amenable to a handshake after losing the NXT championship to Finn Balor, only to just throw it back at his face and leave in a huff.
  • When Neville wins the 2015 Slammy Award for Breakout Star of the Year, Owens attacks him, even though it was supposed to be a fan vote.
  • After losing the United States Championship (merely days after regaining it at Battleground 2017), Owens complained it's unfair that he had to defend the championship that he just regained, that he had to defend it in a triple threat match, and blamed AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, Shane McMahon and the entire WWE universe.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: His ROH theme, "Unsettling Differences", didn't reflect his personality or motivations at all. A fan song for him called "Antichrist II" attempts to rectify this.
• Spiritual Successor: To "Stone Cold" Steve Austin following his 2019 Heel–Face Turn, given his status as an Anti-Hero, major feud with a McMahon (Shane obviously) and adoption of the Stunner as his Finishing Move.
• Spiteful Spit: Exchanged with El Generico before he was booted out of ROH. Later caused Momma's Boy Jay Lethal to turn heel by spitting on Lethal's mother.
• Stout Strength: He's around 5'11" and has a noticeable gut. Doesn't stop him from being easily capable of delivering a Pop-Up Powerbomb to the 400 lbs Mark Henry.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: In WWE, he frequently plays the Straight Man to Chris Jericho's or Sami Zayn's Wise Guy.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: His bromance with Adam Cole, especially in Kevin's Weekend Escapades, where he's very annoyed to find out that even just-woke-up Cole with bedhead and a raspy voice is still ridiculously attractive.
• Suddenly Shouting: Part of his personality from 2023 onward. It's pretty funny.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Oftentimes, KO's Heel antics backfire horribly on him simply because people don't react to his tricks the way he expects them to.
  • Attacking other wrestlers backstage and after matches? Standard heel tactics. Attacking your own boss and putting him in the hospital? Say goodbye to your job!
  • After winning a match against Braun Strowman at Extreme Rules, KO gets the bright idea of trying to further antagonize Strowman by arranging a SummerSlam match where Strowman would lose his Money in the Bank briefcase if he lost. Problem being, Owens won that first match because it was a Steel Cage match and Strowman threw him off the top of a steel cage into an announce table, and by putting his briefcase on the line, Strowman ended up taking the match seriously. Cue Squash Match.
• Tag Team
  • Team IWS (International Wrestling Syndicate) first with El Generico (Devil's Night 2005), then with Sexxxy Eddy.
  • Appetite For Destruction with Super Dragon in PWG, where they won the tag team titles.
  • Nightmare Violence Connection with Akira Tozawa in PWG later.
• Talkshow With Fists: The eponymous Kevin Owens Show.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: In an effort to get back into ROH, he joined the House of Truth in attacking Steve Corino, which lead to Jim Cornette swearing to make sure he never wrestled in ROH again. That in turn led to Steen's "destroy ROH and eventually the entire industry" campaign with SCUM.
• This Is Gonna Suck: His usual reaction to coming up against someone bigger and scarier than he is, particularly Braun Strowman, who frequently clotheslines Kevin so hard, it causes him to do a complete mid-air flip.
• Token Good Teammate: Became this for the SCUM Army, as that development occurred after his change of heart regarding ROH once Cornette and Generico were in his rearview mirror. After he refused their help and lost the title because of it, that situation ended badly and he had to go against them and take them out.
• Too Dumb to Live: Really Kevin? Betraying your best friend who had been helping you defending the Universal Championship all this time weeks before you face someone who had a long undefeated streak? Not a wise move.
• Took a Level in Badass: Let's put it this way. In 2005, ROH fans were constantly complaining about Steen and claimed he didn't deserve a spot on the roster…look at him now.
• Tournament Arc
  • C*4 Wrestling Crossing The Line II saw him reach the final of a five round tournament where he defeated Franky The Mobster, Stupefied and Player Uno to win the C*4 Heavyweight Title.
  • 2CW is Gorges was to see the advancement of four finalist to challenge him for the vacant heavyweight title the next month. However, Slyck Wagner Brown and Sean Carr both got counted out, leaving Steen to "only" have to defeat Isys Ephex, Jason Axe and J. Freddie for the belt in a four way.
  • In an upset, he and Colt Cabana lost in the finals of the New Horizon Pro Headshrinker Samu Legacy Tournament in Perth Australia.
  • Completely averted one of these through sheer manipulative genius in NXT. There had been an 8-man tournament on to determine Sami Zayn's next opponent, but Owens got under Zayn's skin so thoroughly that he essentially refused to fight any challengers until he could get his hands on Owens first. Owens responded by refusing to fight Zayn until GM William Regal made it a title match. Owens got his match and won. Convincingly.
• Trash Talk: Incessantly. Loves to rib AJ Styles about his hair, Shane McMahon about everything (but especially his referee skills), and if you're an audience member, do not heckle this guy unless you're prepared to get your ass verbally handed to you.
• Troll: Seems to go out of his way to string the audience along and then piss them off — probably because of the below.
• Villain Protagonist: He’s the nastiest heel that NXT has ever seen…but he’s so damn good at what he does, the whole crowd will end up chanting for him. And, of course, this was inevitable on the main roster with his first feud being John Cena.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Losing another Intercontinental Title match and then seeing his ultimate Arch-Enemy Sami Zayn coming down to the ring to kill him during the Rumble did not do good things to his sanity.
  • Seems to be a Sami specialty — when Zayn made his big entrance on being traded to ''SmackDown Live' just after Owens was, Owens was reduced to stuttering and raving that Zayn couldn't be here.
• Villainous Friendship:
  • The friendship between Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. Until it wasn't.
  • Between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in 2017-2018 — or as AJ calls them, "Kami". Considering their history, this might go the same way as Jeri-KO.
• Villain Respect: He openly admitted that he really liked Roman Reigns…for giving him another shot in the MitB qualifiers by attacking Jinder Mahal backstage at the 3/14/18 episode of RAW.
• Villains Want Mercy: At the end of his grudge match with El Generico at Final Battle 2010, where both men had beaten each other bloody and were barely able to move, Generico was about to finish Steen off with a chair shot to the head, with the same steel chair Steen had smashed him with one year prior, only to freeze when Steen held out Generico's original red-and-black mask that Steen had ripped off months before. Steen offers it to Generico, and pleads with him to forgive him, and/or at least spare him. Generico hesitates, stares at the mask for a few moments…then drops it to the canvas and smashes the chair across Steen's face, pinning him and forcing him to leave ROH.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Sami Zayn, both in and out of kayfabe. In-kayfabe, this is fairly mild and limited to occasionally mocking Sami's dumb ska-dancing, but out of kayfabe, Kevin has been known to tell a number of embarrassing Zayn stories. There was also the Table for Three where Kevin, Cesaro, and Dean Ambrose all do their best Sami impression, and Kevin and Sami's Ride Along, where Kevin spends most of the episode harassing Sami over his cold, his vegan food, his love of LaCroix, his awful navigation skills...
• We Used to Be Friends
  • On ROH he had this with Jacobs and Corino after being kicked out of SCUM.
  • On NXT he has this with all the guys listed under Continuity Nod.
  • In both cases he had this BIG TIME with El Generico/Sami Zayn.
  • On Raw he has this with Chris Jericho.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Towards John Zandig and the rest of the CZW roster after they chased off the ROH wrestlers with a weed whacker before torturing BJ Whitmer. He called it the most disgusting thing he had ever seen.
• Wham Episode:
  • His "debut" was this for NXT—not so much the squashing of CJ Parker, but the betrayal and destruction of Sami Zayn in the last minutes of NXT Takeover 3.
  • His debut on RAW could be seen as one of these—after all, it's not many people who get to mouth off to John Cena and get away with it...much less pulling off a one-shot-KO with a pop-up powerbomb.
  • The pay-per-view/network special matches that resulted from each of these were nothing to sneeze at either. He completely destroyed Sami Zayn to take his NXT title at Takeover 4, and months later carried said NXT title into the Elimination Chamber PPV and cleanly pinned John Cena.
  • The Houston Screwjob: Triple H betrays Seth Rollins to hand Kevin Owens the Universal Championship.
  • The Feb. 13, 2017 RAW was built around a "Festival of Friendship" party Chris Jericho threw for his best friend, Owens. It ended with Owens revealing a list of his own with Jericho's name on it, then beating him around the ring and throwing him through a TV screen, betraying yet another friendship.
• Wham Line:
  "Generico, I just wanted to say… I hate your fucking guts."
• Worked Shoot: Went on ROH's message boards and typed lots of flowery things about Pro Wrestling Guerilla while he was "banned" from ROH (Cary Silkin was paying Steen during his period of absence). This one probably didn't work as intended, as ROH discussions in general tended to be plagued by PWG fans for years to come.
• Worthy Opponent: Michael Elgin. Besides initially going to The House Of Truth for help getting back into ROH, he went to Elgin when SCUM turned on him. He's maintained an amicable relationship even after Elgin tried to wash his hands of Steen following what he felt was an unsatisfactory performance on Steen's part.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He compared himself to people like Bret Hart and Daniel Bryan (victims of the McMahon Family's abuse of power) or even "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (those who rebelled against said authority) during his 2017-2018 feud with Shane McMahon. The difference however is that Kevin was completely out of control over the summer of 2017 and most of the problems were started by him, which forced Shane to uphold his authority over him. Ironically, his latest Heel–Face Turn was all about him being right.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: During his second reign as the US Champion, Owens issued an US Open Challenge for his championship, but unlike John Cena, he only allowed superstars from the city they are currently in. The only time he actually defended his championship during his Open Challenge was to Chad Gable (who claimed that he just moved to Dayton, the city SmackDown was at the time). Other times were issued by Shane McMahon.
• You Have Failed Me & Outlived Your Usefulness: Got this treatment when Steve Corino kicked him out of SCUM after losing the ROH title.

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"This is the Kevin Owens Show, haven't you heard?!"