Kevin Owens
Kevin Yanick Steen is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Kevin Owens.
Steen began his career in 2000 at age 16. Prior to joining WWE in late 2014, he wrestled under his birth name for Ring of Honor, where he held the ROH World Championship and ROH World Tag Team Championship. He also wrestled extensively on the independent circuit for 14 years, most notably in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he held the PWG World Championship a record three times, as well as the PWG World Tag Team Championship on three occasions. Steen also competed for International Wrestling Syndicate, where he held the IWS World Heavyweight Championship three times, and Combat Zone Wrestling, where he held the CZW Iron Man Championship.
Steen signed with WWE in August 2014, and joined their developmental branch NXT before debuting on the main roster in May 2015. In WWE, he has won nine championships – the NXT Championship once, the Universal Championship once, the Intercontinental Championship twice, the United States Championship three times, and the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship once with Sami Zayn, which made Owens WWE's 23rd overall Grand Slam Champion. He has headlined multiple pay-per-view events for WWE, including the company's flagship annual event, WrestleMania, on two occasions.
Early life
Kevin Yanick Steen was born on May 7, 1984, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada, and raised in Marieville, east of Montreal. He has a brother named Edward Lower. He is of French-Canadian and Irish descent and speaks French as his first language. He learned to speak English by mimicking everything he heard while watching WWF Monday Night Raw. Steen participated in ice hockey, soccer, and baseball, but never considered developing a career out of them—especially soccer, after suffering an injury at age 11—and instead considered becoming a professional wrestler after he and his father watched a videotape of the match between Diesel and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XI.Professional wrestling career
Early career (2000–2004)
When Steen was 14, his parents allowed him to start training with Serge Jodoin, a wrestler based in Quebec. The following year, Steen began training with Jacques Rougeau. He also trained with Terry Taylor, whom he has called his "main trainer". Steen had his first match on May 7, 2000 in L'Assomption, Quebec. Steen trained with Rougeau and wrestled for Rougeau's promotion for four years, before beginning to wrestle with several other Canadian promotions.International Wrestling Syndicate (2003–2009)
On August 16, 2003, Steen made his International Wrestling Syndicate debut at Born to Bleed. At Blood, Sweat and Beers on October 18, Pierre Carl Ouellet defeated Steen and El Generico in a triple threat match. On November 15, at Payback's A Bitch, El Generico defeated Steen in their first-ever singles match against each other.IWS held its 5th anniversary show "V" on June 15, 2004, at Le SPAG, where El Generico won his first IWS World Heavyweight Championship, only to have Steen cash in his number one contendership on El Generico, also winning his first IWS World Heavyweight Championship. Steen's first title reign marked a pivotal milestone in the history of the promotion when he became the first IWS World Heavyweight Champion to internationally defend the title, defeating Roderick Strong on October 30 in Rahway, New Jersey for Jersey All Pro Wrestling. On September 22, 2007, at Blood, Sweat & Beers, Steen defeated Jay Briscoe.
On March 22, 2008, at Know Your Enemies, Steen won his second IWS World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Max Boyer and former champion El Generico in a 3-Way match. On May 24, at Freedom to Fight, Steen became the first person to hold two IWS titles simultaneously when he defeated Boyer to win the IWS Canadian Championship in an IWS Championship Unification match.
Combat Zone Wrestling (2004–2006, 2008, 2014)
Steen made his Combat Zone Wrestling debut on September 10, 2004, at High Stakes II, where SeXXXy Eddy defeated Steen, El Generico and Excess 69 in an IWS 4-Way match which was unofficially chosen as "CZW Match of the Year". On May 14, 2005, Steen took part in the "CZW Best of the Best" tournament, defeating Kenny The Bastard in the first round and Chris Hero in the second round to advance to the finals, where he lost a fatal four-way match involving B-Boy, Super Dragon, and Mike Quackenbush.At Deja Vu 3 on August 13, Steen defeated Franky The Mobster to win the CZW Iron Man Championship. He held the championship for 364 days until losing it on August 12, 2006, to female wrestler LuFisto in a steel cage match at CZW Trapped involving The Canadians, The Blackout, The Forefathers of CZW, and Eddie Kingston. He then departed for a tour with Dragon Gate and did not return to CZW until February 2008, when he made a one-time appearance and fought Vordell Walker to a no contest.
Steen returned to CZW in April 2014, competing in two matches against Masato Tanaka and D. J. Hyde, respectively.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2005–2008)
While wrestling in CZW, Steen also began working for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. On May 13, 2005, at Jason Takes PWG, Steen was entered into his first feud in PWG, when he helped Excalibur defeat Super Dragon in a Guerrilla Warfare match, in the process revealing himself as the fake Super Dragon, who had been attacking the real one the past few months. On August 6, 2005, Steen won the PWG Championship after defeating A.J. Styles at Zombies Shouldn't Run. Steen held the title for nearly four months before losing the championship to Joey Ryan at Chanukah Chaos , following interference from Super Dragon. Steen's feud with Super Dragon ended on December 16, 2005, at Astonishing X-Mas, where he was defeated in a Guerrilla Warfare match.In 2006, Steen began teaming with El Generico, and they began to pursue the PWG World Tag Team Championship. On July 29, 2007, at Giant-Size Annual No. #4, Steen and Generico defeated the reigning champions PAC and Roderick Strong to become the PWG World Tag Team Champions. They successfully defended the belts for almost three months before ultimately losing them to the team of Davey Richards and Super Dragon on October 27 in England as part of PWG's "European Vacation II" tour. The next night, Steen teamed with PAC in an attempt to regain the belts from Dragon and Richards, announcing before the match that if he lost, he would leave the company indefinitely. Steen and PAC lost, leading to Steen leaving PWG.
However, Steen returned to PWG and, along with El Generico, won the title for a second time, this time from The Dynasty on March 21, 2008, in an impromptu match. Steen and Generico became the first team in PWG history to be a part of the annual Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament to defend the belts in each match they had. In the tournament finals, they lost the title to Jack Evans and Roderick Strong, thus ending their second reign. Ultimately, Steen left PWG after interest from ROH increased. According to Steen, he could not wrestle for ROH and PWG at the same time and chose ROH because of the money and the exposure.
Ring of Honor (2007–2014)
Storyline with El Generico (2007–2010)
On February 17, 2007, Steen, as a heel, returned to Ring of Honor at Fifth Year Festival: ''Philly, teaming with the face El Generico in a losing effort to the Briscoe Brothers. On April 14, Mark Briscoe returned in the middle of a match between Steen and Generico and his brother Jay and Erick Stevens at Fighting Spirit. Mark was attacked by the duo, however, and was pinned by Steen after a package piledriver. At Respect is Earned on July 1, Steen and El Generico defeated The Irish Airborne, Pelle Primeau and Mitch Franklin, and Jimmy Rave and Adam Pearce in a Tag Team Scramble dark match. That same night, Steen and El Generico brawled with the Briscoe Brothers, ending with Mark Briscoe suffering a mild concussion from a steel chair shot. At Driven on September 21, the Briscoe Brothers defeated Steen and El Generico to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship. At Death Before Dishonor V Night 1 on August 10, they defeated the Briscoes in a non-title Boston Street Fight. Steen and Generico then suffered three consecutive losses to the Briscoes at Caged Rage on August 24 in a steel cage match, Manhattan Mayhem II on August 25 in a two out of three falls match, and Man Up on November 30 in ROH's first-ever ladder match.At Up For Grabs'' on June 6, 2008, Steen and Generico participated in a one night tournament to crown new ROH World Tag Team Champions, defeating Go Shiozaki and ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness in the first round, Chris Hero and Adam Pearce in the second round, but losing to Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black in the finals. On July 25, Steen faced McGuinness for the ROH World Championship at the company's debut show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but lost. At a pay-per-view taping in Boston on September 19, Steen and Generico defeated The Age of the Fall to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship. They lost the championship to The American Wolves at a television taping on April 10, 2009.
On December 19, at Final Battle, ROH's first live pay-per-view, Steen turned heel by attacking his tag team partner El Generico after a loss to The Young Bucks. Steen then found a new partner in Steve Corino. At The Big Bang! on April 3, 2010, Generico and Cabana defeated Steen and Corino via disqualification, when Steen used a chair on his former partner. On June 19, at Death Before Dishonor VIII, Steen defeated Generico in a singles match. On September 11, at Glory By Honor IX, Generico and Cabana defeated Steen and Corino in a Double Chain match, when Cabana forced Corino to tap out. After the match, Steen attacked El Generico and unmasked him. At Final Battle on December 18, Steen and Generico ended their year–long feud in an unsanctioned Fight Without Honor, where Steen put his ROH career on the line against Generico's mask. Despite Steen not liking the idea because he would lose money if he lost, he agreed to the match, because he thought ROH would use Generico as a top wrestler after the feud. El Generico won the match and thus forced Steen out of ROH. The feud was voted by Wrestling Observer Newsletter as the best feud of the year.
Prior to the outcome, on November 4, Kevin Steen's contract agreement with Ring of Honor ended due to financial budget concerns, which ultimately played a role within the stipulations of the match. Steen wrote most of the El Generico rivalry storyline himself, though he claims that his poor relationship with new booker Jim Cornette, who had little interest in either Steen or Generico, resulted in a great deal of frustration for him. During the feud, ROH booker Adam Pearce promised Steen he would main event Final Battle, but Cornette made Davey Richards-Eddie Edwards the main event and Steen-Generico after the event. Steen also claims that Cornette "froze" him out of ROH, believing he was also keeping the promotion's president Cary Silkin in the dark on when Steen would be brought back.