Kevin Owens Explains Why He Hasn’t Gone Back to NXT

Back in November, it looked like Kevin Owens was on his way back to his old stomping grounds in NXT. Triple H tried to lure him back to the brand on an episode of Monday Night Raw, and he even made a surprise appearance as a member of Tommaso Ciampa’s team in the NXT TakeOver: WarGames main event. But just two days later he was back on Raw for the start of what wound up being a months-long feud with Seth Rollins, and all signs of him leaving the Red Brand have been snuffed out. In a new interview with CBS Sports this week, Owens revealed that he actually came pretty close to convincing Vince McMahon to make the move only for plans to fall through.

“For a while there, it looked like I was going to head back to NXT,” Owens said. “I had even discussed it with Vince McMahon and stuff like that. I was excited about it. I don’t know if it would have been a long or short term thing. I’ve been vocal about wanting to go back there because I’d love to help make it grow even more and help make it as big as it can get and make it so we have three brands people know about. I would love for people to be just as aware of NXT as they are about Raw and SmackDown. I would have loved to be a part of that, but some decisions were made that I had to stay put on Raw and SmackDown. That’s fine, but I would love the chance to go back.

“I talk to Triple H pretty regularly and we bring it up once in a while,” he added. “It’s just about timing. There’s a lot of opportunities. The landscape of WWE is changing quite a bit through this situation and I think it’s going to keep evolving. The ideal scenario for me would be for NXT to be viewed as a third brand, and if it’s not already, it’s pretty close. I’d love to be a part of anything. I love to contribute to SmackDown, to Raw, to NXT. I just want to go where I’m needed and try to make a difference.”

Owens made his NXT debut at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution in December 2014, and just two months later he took the NXT Championship from Sami Zayn. He arrived on the Raw roster in May 2015 of that year while still holding the championship and quickly entered a feud with John Cena.