In more than just over a year, Kevin Owens has proved himself one of the biggest stars of the New Era.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Owens, real name Kevin Steen, has been wrestling for half his life. Joining the Ring of Honor promotion at the age of 16, Owens has wrestled all over the world, competing against some of the best in the world and a who’s who of today’s top wrestling stars including Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, and Shinsuke Nakamura.
Upon arriving in WWE under the NXT brand, Owens made himself known to those uninitiated with his work with his no-nonsense brand of offense and abrasive attitude. He quickly captured the NXT Title, but set his sights higher by challenging the face of the company, John Cena in one of Cena’s open invitational matches.
Cena, the United States Champion at the time, lost to Owens cleanly by pinfall at the Elimination Chamber event last year in a non-title bout, but it catapulted Owens’ stock to stratospheric levels. Not satisfied with just merely a victory, Owens pursued the Intercontinental Championship, and eventually beat Ryback for the title. In doing so, Owens became the first French-Canadian to hold any WWE gold since Maryse in 2010.
Having recently lost the IC title at WrestleMania, Owens is hellbent on becoming a three-time champion and has even been seconds away from earning the company’s top prize, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
It should be noted also that was Owen Hart’s 51st birthday as well and Owens grew up admiring Hart and even named his son after the fallen wrestler.
So the question isn’t if Kevin Owens will be crowned WWE World Heavyweight Champion, but when.
