Kevin Owens defends his title at ‘Royal Rumble’ tonight. (WWE.com)
Tonight at Royal Rumble, fans will either see the end of Kevin Owens’ Universal Championship reign, or, assuming a Raw superstar wins the Royal Rumble, it will be confirmed that Owens will defend his championship at WrestleMania.
Considering how big a role Kevin Owens has played in WWE programming over the past few months, it’s hard to believe that he’s been with the company for less than two years. Owens was known for his work with Ring of Honor before he signed with the WWE, and he made his WWE debut in May 2015. He is now the first ever Universal Champion after having been handed the title by Triple H.
Kevin Owens’ real name is Kevin Steen; he is 32 years old, 6’0″ and weighs 266 pounds.
Ahead of his big night, here’s everything you need to know about WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens.
1. He’s From Canada & His First Language is French
Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho celebrate another successful title defense. (WWE.com)
As has been frequently mentioned on Monday Night Raw, best friends Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho are both from Canada. Owens himself was originally born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, but he grew up in Marieville, Quebec.
Owens’ first language is French, and he learned English from watching wrestling. In an appearance on the podcast Talk is Jericho, Owens says that his dad rented WrestleMania 11 on VHS and Owens became obsessed with it, and from there he continued to rent pay-per-views. He says that the first wrestling match he ever saw was Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel at WrestleMania 11.
During a Reddit Ask Me Anything, Kevin Owens added that in addition to wrestling, Friends also helped him learn English.
2. He Started Training When He Was 14
Kevin Owens has been wrestling since he was 14 years old. (Getty)
Kevin Owens started training to become a professional wrestler at the age of 14 in Quebec, Canada. He had his first match on May 7, 2000, which happened to be his 16th birthday.
Three years later, Owens signed with International Wrestling Syndicate, a wrestling promotion in Canada. He became IWS Heavyweight Champion in 2004. At the same time, he was also performing with Combat Zone Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
Starting in 2007, Owens started wrestling for Ring of Honor, where he earned a name for himself and continued to perform as Kevin Steel. In the summer of 2014, Kevin revealed his contract with Ring of Honor was about to end, and he performed in his final match on June 22th, 2014.
Just a few weeks after his last match, Owens signed with World Wrestling Entertainment and debuted on NXT. One of his first major storylines was with Sami Zayn, who Owens defeated in February 2015 to become NXT Champion. He held the title for 143 days before losing it to Finn Balor.
In May 2015, Kevin Owens made his main roster debut; on an episode of Monday Night Raw, John Cena put out an open challenge for the United States Championship, and Owens ran out and attacked Cena. They had a non-title match at Elimination Chamber later that month, which Owens won. In September, Owens captured the Intercontinental Championship; his reign lasted 84 days, and he lost the title to Dean Ambrose. He won the title back in February and then lost it at WrestleMania 32. Then, in August, Kevin Owens became WWE Universal Champion thanks to the interference of Triple H.
3. He Was Influenced by Owen Hart
Roman Reigns defeats Kevin Owens on ‘Raw.’ (WWE.com)
Kevin Steen is a big fan of Owen Hart, to the point that he named his son after Hart and he reportedly took the in-ring name Kevin Owens as a tribute to him.
Coincidentally, Kevin Owens and Owen Hart share the same birthday: May 7th.
“Owen Hart was a huge influence on me,” he said in 2015. “As a kid, the fact that we share a birthday blew my mind…and it still does now! One of the best ever!”
Kevin Owens and Owen Hart are also both two-time Intercontinental Champions.
4. He Is Married to Karina Elias
Kevin Owens is married to Karina Elias. (Instagram)
Kevin Owens has been married since 2007 to Karina Elias. When Owens first started wrestling professionally, Elias stayed at home with the children, but they moved with him to Orlando, Florida when he signed with WWE. Based on her social media accounts, Elias considers herself to be Kevin Owens’ biggest fan, and Owens says that he wouldn’t be able to be successful without her.
“When I’m gone five days a week on the road, my wife needs some help, she can’t be in Florida alone with two young kids,” he told Slam Wrestling. “The success I have in the WWE is due to my wife as much as anybody else, because without her, I wouldn’t be here today.”
He added in an interview with Rolling Stone, “…my wife’s incredible. She’s the backbone of our family and, since the moment we met, knew how passionate I was about this. It’s all I can do. I wouldn’t be able to hold a nine-to-five. That’s no knock on anybody who does it. I just don’t think I’d be able to, so for her to be supportive is great.”
Elias used to be quite active on Instagram, posting pictures of her herself with Kevin Owens and their children, but she deleted her account back in October.
5. He Has Two Children
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Kevin Owens and Karina Elias have two children: a daughter, Élodie, and a son, Owen, who was named after Owen Hart.
As it turns out, Owen is a huge fan of John Cena, and so he was blown away when his father made his debut on Monday Night Raw by fighting John Cena. That moment of surprise was captured in a video that quickly went viral in the wrestling community; Owen exclaims, “He’s fighting John Cena! What? Oh my god!”
During an appearance on Talk is Jericho, Kevin said that his son would constantly ask him when he was going to wrestle John Cena, and Kevin always assured him it would happen one day.
Later, Owen got to meet John Cena, and Cena, being the nice guy that he is, gave Owen a handwritten letter. On Talk is Jericho, Kevin said that the letter involved Cena profusely apologizing for not coming to say hi to Owen when he was in the arena for a show and was hoping to meet Cena.
“He hand wrote a letter to my son, like two full pages…and the letter was John basically apologizing for that,” Kevin Owens said. “It was crazy. Honestly, as a father, my crowning moment now is that moment when I got to see my son interact with John for the first time.”
Kevin Owens’ wife Karina also recorded Owen’s reaction to his father winning the Universal Championship back in August; all Owen could say was “I’m speechless right now.”
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Brendan Morrow is a Heavy contributor who covers news, politics, professional wrestling, and more. He has previously written about film for Bloody Disgusting, We Got This Covered, What Culture, and The Celebrity Cafe. Follow him on twitter @brendanmorrow.January 29, 2017 1:12 pm
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