Hulk Hogan had Kevin Owens pegged from the start.
As wrestling has progressed, how a wrestler gets into the business has changed in a big way. The WWE Performance Center has become a training ground for any future star and with the territory days over, learning to work different styles in front of different audiences isn't as common.
Appearing on the Steve Austin Show, Hulk Hogan discussed how wrestlers are groomed nowadays and why it's tougher to get over.
"Nowadays, you have a bunch of people coming out of the same facility being trained by the same exact people. I'm not saying they are all the same, but it's hard for a person to develop how to get over when they are coming out of the same environment," said Hogan. "Now, you get put on the big stage and you have to figure out how to get over. They feed you the content and the verbiage. Someone has to shoot the gap and figure out what separates you and will get you over from the other person that's trained the same, that's being handed the same [script] as the other five guys. There has to bea instinct."
Hogan continued, "You gotta find that spot in the middle of what they want you to do and what is different. If you have balls enough to shoot your own angle out there, they want you to grab that brass ring and run with it. That's how I would tell them. If you have a gut instinct for something, don't tell anybody, just go out there and try it."
One wrestler who has seemingly broken the mold is Kevin Owens, who is making plenty of headlines nowadays with his strong promo work, his use of the Stunner, and his upcoming WWE SummerSlam match with Shane McMahon. But had WWE listened to Hulk Hogan years ago, Owens would have already been the biggest star in the business.
"When I saw Kevin Owens in NXT, I watched two of his matches, and I watched him grind and chop meat. I went, 'There's a brother that's got heat.' Everybody I talked to in WWE wasn't real real high on him like I was," said Hogan. "The look, a lot of things he didn't have going for him, they pointed out. I said, 'No, I'm telling you, you give this guy a chance to get over, he'll grind.' He found that spot between the cadence to get himself over and shoot his angle."
Hogan has been singing the praises of Owens since at least 2016, so this is not Hogan attaching his name to one of the hottest acts in the company right now.
Steve Austin recently commented on Owens, saying it's unfair to compare Owens to himself despite the obvious similarities. You can view Austin's comments by clicking here.
