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Kevin Owens Kevin Owens is a Canadian professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Kevin Owens and is the current WWE Universal Champion in his first reign. Owens wrestled in WWE's developmental branch NXT, where he was a one-time NXT Champion, and debuted on the main roster in May 2015, where he also held the Intercontinental Championship twice.

On August 12, 2014, WWE announced that Steen had signed with them and was due to report to their developmental system NXT on August 25.[92] His new ring name had only the surname changed to Owens, a tribute to his son Owen, and NXT began airing promotional videos from November 20 to hype his upcoming debut.[93] Owens detailed that he had wrestled for 14 years before making it to WWE, having faced (and formed a friendship with) several current WWE or NXT wrestlers on the independent circuit years ago, but WWE signed them first and now that he was here, Owens declared that he would fight anyone and everyone, because fighting was the best way he could provide for his family.[94][95][96]

At the NXT TakeOver: R Evolution live special episode on December 11, Owens defeated CJ Parker in his debut match, in which Parker legitimately gave Owens a broken nose with his Third Eye (palm strike) finishing move; still, later that night, when Sami Zayn (the former El Generico) won the NXT Championship, Owens came to the ring to congratulate Zayn before powerbombing him into the ring apron to establish himself as a heel.[97] On the December 18, 2014 episode of NXT, Owens wrestled former NXT Champion Adrian Neville to a double countout and powerbombed Neville into the apron after the match.[98] After yet another post-match attack by Owens on Zayn, an irate Zayn demanded a match against Owens,[99][100] but Owens refused to wrestle unless it was for the championship. Zayn agreed and a title match was set for NXT TakeOver: Rival on February 11, 2015.[101] At the event, Owens captured the title (two months to the day after debuting) from Zayn via referee stoppage, having powerbombed a disorientated Zayn five times, and was stopped before he could execute a sixth.[102] On the March 25 episode of NXT, he successfully retained the NXT title against Finn Bálor. At NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable, Owens' rematch for the title against Sami Zayn went to a no-contest after Owens continued to beat down an injured Zayn, until the debuting Samoa Joe stopped him.[103] After weeks of tension between the two, Owens faced Joe on the June 17 episode of NXT. After the match went to a no contest, the two continued to brawl until they had to be separated.[104] On the July 4 WWE Network special event held in Tokyo, Japan, Owens lost the NXT Championship to Finn Bálor, ending his reign at 143 days.[105] At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, Owens had his rematch for the title in a ladder match against Bálor, but he failed to regain the title in what would have been his last match and appearance in NXT.[106] Owens made his unannounced main roster debut on the May 18, 2015 episode of Raw responding to John Cena's United States Championship open challenge. However, instead of competing in the match, Owens attacked Cena and stomped on the United States title in a show of disrespect, setting up a non-title match between the two at Elimination Chamber on May 31,[108] which Owens won cleanly by pinfall.[109] A rematch between the two took place in June, at Money in the Bank, which Cena won, and after the match, Owens powerbombed Cena onto the ring apron.[110] Owens later challenged Cena to a match for the United States Championship, which took place at Battleground, on July 20, which Cena won by submission, thus ending their feud.[111] Following the loss to Cena, Owens entered a feud with Cesaro,[112] defeating him in two matches – at SummerSlam on August 23[113] and on an episode of Raw eight days later.[114]

On September 20 at Night of Champions, Owens defeated Ryback after a rake to the eyes followed by a roll-up to win his first singles title on the main roster, the Intercontinental Championship, becoming the first French-Canadian to hold a championship in WWE since Maryse won the Divas Championship in 2010.[115] On October 3, Owens' first title defense came on the WWE Network special, Live from Madison Square Garden, where Owens defeated Chris Jericho after once again manipulating his opponents vision.[116] On October 25, at Hell in a Cell, Owens successfully defended his championship in a rematch against Ryback.[117] Owens then took part in the tournament for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, in which he defeated Titus O'Neil[118] and Neville,[119] but lost to Dean Ambrose in the semifinals at Survivor Series.[120][121] Owens then entered a feud with Ambrose, where he lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ambrose at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 13, ending his reign at 84 days.[122] On the January 14, 2016 episode of SmackDown, Owens challenged Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship, with the match ending in a double countout.[123] On January 24 at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Owens got a rematch for the title in a Last Man Standing match, which he was unsuccessful, and later that night, Owens entered the Rumble match as the 18th entrant, where he eliminated the debuting AJ Styles, before being eliminated by long time rival Sami Zayn.[124]

The following night on Raw, Owens entered a feud with Dolph Ziggler, with the two trading victories over each other on back to back episodes of Raw.[125][126] On the February 15 episode of Raw, Owens won the Intercontinental Championship for a second time, defeating former champion Dean Ambrose, Stardust, Tyler Breeze and Ziggler in a fatal five-way match.[127] At Fastlane, Owens defended the Intercontinental Championship in a match against Ziggler, which he won.[128] At Wrestlemania 32, Owens defended the Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match against Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Stardust, Sin Cara and Zack Ryder; Owens lost the title when Ryder won the match after Zayn took him out of the match.[129][130] The night after WrestleMania on Raw, Owens faced AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, and the returning Cesaro in a fatal four-way match to determine the No. 1 contender for Roman Reigns' newly won WWE World Heavyweight Championship; however, Owens lost the match when Styles pinned Jericho.[131] He resumed the feud with longtime rival Sami Zayn after he attacked him on Raw,[131] which led to a match at Payback, where Owens defeated Zayn.[132] At Extreme Rules, Owens faced Zayn, Cesaro and Miz in a fatal four-way match for the Intercontinental Championship, but failed to regain the title when Miz pinned Cesaro.[133] Despite not winning the Intercontinental title, this match meant Owens had become the only other WWE wrestler, besides The Undertaker, to appear on every pay-per-view event in their debut year on the main roster.[134] The following night on Raw, Owens defeated AJ Styles to qualify for the 2016 Money in the Bank ladder match,[135] but he failed to win the match.[136] During the 2016 WWE draft, Owens was drafted to Raw, along with rival Sami Zayn.[137] At Battleground, Owens was defeated by Zayn.[138] At SummerSlam, Owens teamed with Chris Jericho to defeat Enzo Amore and Big Cass.[139]On the August 22 episode of Raw, Owens defeated Neville to qualify for the vacant WWE Universal Championship four-way elimination match the following week.[140] On August 29, Owens defeated Big Cass, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins with interference from Triple H to win the WWE Universal Championship, his first world title in WWE, as well as being the third man, after Seth Rollins and Finn Bálor, to win the NXT Championship and a world championship on the main roster.[141] Between September and October, Owens successfully defended the title against Rollins, first in a singles match at Clash of Champions,[142] and then at Hell in a Cell in a Hell in a Cell match,[143] both times after interferences from Jericho.[144][145] Owens and Jericho were later announced as co-captains of Team RAW for the Traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series inter-promotional elimination tag team match against Team SmackDown Live, alongside Reigns, Rollins and Braun Strowman.