Kevin Owens

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the American basketball player, see Kevin Owens (basketball). For the British news
anchor, see Kevin Owen.

Kevin Owens

Owens in December 2016

Birth name Kevin Yanick Steen

Born May 7, 1984 (age 38)

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada

Karina Lamer
Spouse(s)
 (m. 2007)

Children 2

Professional wrestling career

Ring name(s) Kevin Owens

Kevin Steen

Billed height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[1]

Billed weight 266 lb (121 kg)[1]

Billed from Marieville, Quebec, Canada[1][2]

Trained by Jacques Rougeau[3]

Pierre Carl Ouellet[3]

Serge Jodoin[3]

Terry Taylor[4]

Debut May 7, 2000[3]

Kevin Yanick Steen (born May 7, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is

currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring
name Kevin Owens.[1]
Steen began his career in 2000, at the age of 16. [3] Prior to joining WWE in late 2014, he
wrestled under his birth name for Ring of Honor (ROH), where he held the ROH World
Championship and ROH World Tag Team Championship.[5][6] He also wrestled
extensively on the independent circuit for 14 years, most notably in Pro Wrestling
Guerrilla (PWG), where he held the PWG World Championship a record three times, as
well as the PWG World Tag Team Championship on three occasions.[7][8] Steen also
competed for International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS), where he held three times
the IWS World Heavyweight Championship, All American Wrestling (AAW), where he
held the AAW Heavyweight Championship; and Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), where
he held the CZW Iron Man Championship.[9]
Steen signed with WWE in August 2014, and joined their developmental branch NXT,
where he held the NXT Championship once, before debuting with the belt on the main
roster in May 2015. In WWE, he has held the Universal Championship once,
the Intercontinental Championship twice, and the United States Championship three
times.[10][11] He also headlined the first night of WrestleMania 38, in which he
wrestled "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a one-off match 19 years after Austin's
retirement. Overall, he is a six-time world champion in professional wrestling.

Early life[edit]
Kevin Steen was born on May 7, 1984, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec,[12] and
raised in Marieville, Quebec, 18 miles east of Montreal. He has a brother named
Edward Lower. He is of French-Canadian and Irish descent and speaks French as his
first language.[13] He learned to speak English by mimicking everything he heard while
watching WWE Monday Night Raw.[13] Steen participated in ice hockey, soccer, and
baseball, but never considered developing a career out of them—especially soccer,
after suffering an injury at age 11—and instead considered becoming a professional
wrestler after he and his father watched a videotape of the match
between Diesel and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XI.[3][14]

Professional wrestling career[edit]

Early career (2000–2004)[edit]
When Steen was 14, his parents allowed him to start training with Serge Jodoin, a
wrestler based in Quebec.[3] The following year, Steen began training with Jacques
Rougeau.[3] He also trained with Terry Taylor, whom he has called his "main trainer".
[4]
 Steen had his first match on May 7, 2000 (his 16th birthday) in L'Assomption, Quebec.
[3]
 Steen trained with Rougeau and wrestled for Rougeau's promotion for four years,
before beginning to wrestle with several other Canadian promotions. [3]
International Wrestling Syndicate (2003–2009)[edit]
On August 16, 2003, Steen made his International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) debut at
Born to Bleed. Pierre Carl Ouellet defeated El Generico and Steen at Blood, Sweat and
Beers in a triple threat match on October 18, 2003. On November 15 at Payback's A
Bitch, El Generico defeated Steen in their first-ever singles match against each other. [15]
[16]
 IWS held its 5th anniversary show "V" on June 15, 2004 at Le SPAG, where El
Generico defeated PCO in an IWS title match to win his first IWS World Heavyweight
Championship, only to have Steen cash in his #1 contendership won earlier that night
against Excess 69. Steen defeated El Generico, also winning his first IWS World
Heavyweight Championship. Steen's first title reign in 2004, marked a pivotal milestone
in the history of the promotion when he became the first IWS World Heavyweight
Champion to internationally defend the title, in defeating Roderick Strong on October 30
in Rahway, New Jersey for Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW).[17]
On September 22, 2007 at Blood, Sweat & Beers, Steen defeated Jay Briscoe.[18] On
February 16, 2008 at Violent Valentine, El Generico defeated Steen for the IWS World
Heavyweight Championship.[19] On March 22, 2008 at Know Your Enemies, Steen
regained the IWS World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Max Boyer & former
champion El Generico in a 3-Way match.[20] On May 24, 2008 at Freedom to Fight, Steen
became the first-ever to hold two IWS titles simultaneously when he defeated Max
Boyer to win the IWS Canadian Championship in an IWS Championship Unification
match.[citation needed]