Kevin Owens remembers the people who helped him along the way.
Kevin Owens had one of his first matches and extended runs in wrestling with IWS in 2003. Owens wrestled under the name Kevin Steen, breaking into the business alongside Sami Zayn (El Generico). Despite becoming one of the top stars in wrestling and a multi-time champion in WWE, Owens never forgot where he came from.
"Kevin is the epitome of a pro wrestling fan. Kevin lives, sleeps, and breathes pro wrestling," IWS founder PCP Crazy Manny said in an interview with Jeremy Lambert & Stephen Jensen on The Spotlight.
Crazy Manny recently competed at IWS Vs. GCW UnFnSanctioned in March and suffered a gruesome ear injury as it was sliced off by a light tube. Manny revealed that Owens was one of the first people to text him when he saw the incident.
"I leave [the venue] L'Olympia after getting my ear sewed on, the doctor wants me to go to the hospital because I had a hematoma under one of the cuts. He says, 'You know, maybe you should go double-check this. The hospital is nearby, and they know you're coming. It will take a couple of hours, but I'll sleep better.' Our doctor, we have real doctors backstage, they're also people we grew up with. We have friends with careers, and they genuinely care about us. One of our students at the pro wrestling school drove me there and was going to drive me home. He's sitting with me and the first text message, by this point it's 1 AM and the internet had gone nuts. The first text message I get is Kevin Owens, who just finished a pay-per-view. 'Manny, your ear, what the fuck?' 'Shit luck.' 'Are you okay? Are you at the hospital? Talk to me.' I have this student who is three months into pro wrestling training, and he sees the name and is like, 'is that really who I think it is?' 'Yeah, we're all friends. We grew up and came up together.' That's why you see Mox [Jon Moxley] in GCW, it's a generation who came up together. A lot of guys don't let success get to them. A lot of guys do and forget about where they came from. Kevin, Sami Zayn, 2point0, Mike Bailey, these guys are real," he said.
Owens has given a shoutout to his history in the past, referencing PWG at WrestleMania 39 when he and Sami Zayn won the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles from The Usos (Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso).
Elsewhere during the interview, Crazy Manny discussed the origin of Sami Zayn. Fans can find his full comments by clicking here.
Fans can check out the full interview with Crazy Manny in the video above.
