Kevin Owens says WWE was not contacted by Ring of Honor to have any former Ring of Honor names send videos for Final Battle 2021.
Ring of Honor is one of the great promotions that groomed a lot of talent for success in WWE and beyond. Now, the promotion is currently on hiatus but during their final event, Final Battle 2021, several names from the company’s past that are currently in AEW sent videos reflecting on their time in the company.
WWE also had several names that were integral to the success of Ring of Honor in the past. Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, and more were all hugely apart of Ring of Honor in the past and did not send videos but Kevin Owens says that the reason for that is simple, WWE was not asked by Ring of Honor to have any talent film videos.
"The answer is quite simple: Ring of Honor didn’t ask any wrestlers from WWE to do that, nor contacted anyone at WWE," Kevin Owens said on the les Anti-Pods de la Lutte, TVA Sports’ wrestling podcast. "I knew it was going to be their last show, but I didn’t think to send a video so they could play it at the show. I’ve watched it. I was at a WWE show, and I was watching it on my phone, so it was not something I simply ignored. I’ve read some people on the Internet saying that probably WWE didn’t let us do it, but that’s incorrect. It’s just ROH who didn’t ask us, and I bet that if they had, we could have done it, but that wasn’t the case."
Reflecting on Ring of Honor’s impact on his career, Kevin Owens says there was a point where he thought Ring of Honor would be his home promotion for the rest of his career but ultimately, it was a PWG show where William Regal saw him and his WWE journey began.
"It’s funny cause I often ask myself that same question. Of course, it gave me a very important platform in the United States. But at the end of the day, William Regal saw me at a PWG show. Even before I started full-time with ROH in 2007, I had a good name on the indies because of PWG. So sometimes I wonder if things would have not become what they became with ROH, if I would have made it to WWE anyway. Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know. But at the same time, there was a point in my career where I thought ROH would be where I would spend my whole career. Even if my goal was always to go with WWE, there’s was a point in my life where I had my son and my wife, and I was thinking that traveling so much like I would have had to do in WWE was not the best thing for me, so I was thinking that the more time I can make a living working ROH, that’s what I would do. However, with time, my priorities changed a little, my family’s priorities changed a little, and that’s when WWE became my goal again. So ROH was a big influence and a huge part of my career, but I often wonder if ROH would have not been part of my career, if I would have made it to WWE anyway. A huge part of me thinks so. That said, I have plenty of good and fun memories with ROH, and I’m very happy to have been a part of ROH for all those years."
Kevin Owens recently re-signed with WWE, calling the decision the best move for his family. Learn more here.
Thanks to Pat Laprade for sending along the above quotes.