Kevin Owens is one of the most exciting Superstars on the WWE roster. It's amazing to think that Wrestlemania 32 on 3 April 2016, will be the first time that he has performed on 'The Grandest Stage of Them All'. The show will, of course, be available to WWE Network subscribers (so sign up before Wrestlemania here) and UK fans can see the superstars and divas of the WWE in person when they hit these shores on their Wrestlemania Revenge tour (tickets available here). We caught up with Kevin Owens as he was embarking on his personal road to Wrestlemania. Read on and make sure you're ready for the big one on 3 April!!
Kevin, in a recent interview one WWE Hall of Famer told us Wrestlemania could well be held in the UK in the future, what's your view?
I don't see why not. I think that it would be a pretty special attraction for Wrestlemania to be in the UK or any other country really. As a Canadian superstar I would hope that one day Wrestlemania is back in Canada. Obviously every fan in the WWE universe hopes that Wrestlemania comes to their area at some point and I think that would be great and you know, I don't see why it wouldn't happen eventually.
Do you have good memories of wrestling in the UK?
You know I wrestled in the UK quite a bit, maybe not as much as one would expect because when I was part of the Independent scene my son was born and I made the decision not to travel overseas anymore for almost ten years. So I didn't wrestle as much in the UK as one might think but every time I did, I enjoyed it. Last November was my first European tour with WWE and every show in the UK was a blast. Packed buildings and lots of fans - everything you'd want as a WWE performer obviously, so very good memories all around.
Will we see an NXT match on the Wrestlemania card this year?
I don't know. I can't answer that. I don't even know what my match is going to be at Wrestlemania quite yet but if there were to be an NXT match at Wrestlemania I feel like it would be pretty special. I remember last year when I was a part of NXT. Everyone was keeping their fingers crossed that maybe there would be an NXT match and there wasn't but there was an NXT superstar at Wrestlemania because Hideo Itami was part of the Andre the Giant Battle Royale. Maybe something like that could happen this year as well. Regardless though, the impact that NXT has made over the last year is undeniable and whether or not there is an NXT match this year, I feel like eventually there's going to be an NXT match at Wrestlemania. If not this year, it might be next year. NXT is growing by the day and everyone is real proud of everything we're doing there. Who knows what could happen.
You must be excited that Shinsuke Nakamura has signed with WWE
Yeah I am. He's an incredible talent, he's unique and he's going to bring something to WWE that not a lot of people can bring. People that don't know who he is yet are going to find out very soon that he's a very special talent and we're very lucky to have him.
You tweeted a moving tribute to Daniel Bryan. What has he meant to you?
You know Daniel Bryan, I can't say that we were ever close friends but we've known each other for a very long time and when I was working on the independent scene he was already a very respected top guy. He was seen as the veteran and one of the best in the world at that point. He didn't necessarily have to be nice to someone like me who was just starting. Plenty of the guys on the independent scene that were viewed as top wrestlers weren't nice. They didn't go out of their way to treat us nicely. Daniel Bryan always did and that always meant like a lot to me. He's someone who, everyone in the locker room at WWE and every locker room I've ever shared with him on the independent scene, everyone always had the utmost respect for him because of the way he treated people and because of how incredible he was in the ring. It's a shame he had to retire but its what's best for him. I felt the need to tell him that, I put it out on twitter because people needed to know that but I made sure to tell him privately as well how much I appreciated everything he did for us - and it was the least I could do.
Wrestlemania 32 will be your first 'mania. How proud are you to reach this moment?
It's pretty incredible. I wanted to become a wrester because I saw a tape of Wrestlemania 11. That made me decide I wanted to be a WWE superstar one day. And here I am years later and I'm about to take part in my first Wrestlemania and its shaping up to be the biggest yet, so it's a pretty incredible feeling for sure.
You've wrestled in front of both dozens and thousands of people - will you be nervous?
You know I don't get nervous any more no matter how big the crowd is because I feel very confident in my abilities and myself. I can't say whether I'll be nervous or not for Wrestlemania. One thing that doesn't change is that there's always a level of excitement. It could count as a sort of weird nervous energy just because you're excited to get out there and do your thing. Obviously with Wrestlemania being the biggest show I've ever been a part of by far, I'm sure that excitement levels are going to be through the roof. So I'll be dealing with that for sure but I'm not sure that's being nervous. I'll just be excited to go out there and put on the best show possible.
To watch the best show that sports entertainment has to offer, make sure to sign up to the WWE network here and if you're in the UK, get your tickets for the Wrestlemania Revenge tour here!
