Kevin Owens Admits He Couldn't Enjoy His First Reign as WWE Universal Champion

A new WWE Chronicle released on the WWE Network on Sunday, this time centering around Kevin Owens as he prepares for his WWE Universal Championship match with Roman Reigns at the TLC pay-per-view. Owens previously held the title for 188 days from August 2016-February 2017, winning the vacated championship thanks to an assist from Triple H and eventually losing it to Goldberg at the Fastlane pay-per-view. At the time KO was one of the biggest heels in the company thanks to his white-hot run as NXT Champion from the previous year and his compelling storyline with Chris Jericho that eventually led to a United States Championship match at WrestleMania 33.

However, Owens has never reached that same height again in the three years since. He's won a handful of championships and contested for the WWE Championship on a number of occasions but always fell short of winning. He admitted in the documentary that he was never truly satisfied with his first title reign, and never got the chance to enjoy it.

"I feel like the last three years have been a really uphill struggle for me," Owens said. "The nature of what we do here makes it a lot more difficult to make sure that you don't, at some point, become sort of irrelevant. I think it happens here because there's so much talent, so many really great performers and there's only that much TV time. And now we're here and it's like this dream scenario that I've waited for for four years. To say that I'm pumped is an understatement. I've been waiting for an opportunity to show people again, because I feel like I've shown it time and time again, where I belong."

He was later asked by a producer if it matters for him to be champion again.

"It matters for me because my first Universal title run, I really didn't enjoy it as much as I should have," Owens said. "When I was in the middle of it, I would always think, 'We could have done this differently, we should have done that differently.' And then it was over. And I was like, man, looking back, obviously, a few months removed or even a year I realized I really didn't enjoy any of it. I was so worried about trying to make it great, it's a good worry to have [and] it's a worry anybody should have. I think it was also a curse because I just couldn't keep things in perspective. But if you're passionate about what you do, you kind of can't help but care too much I think."