John Cena Was Responsible For Kevin Owens’ Main Roster Debut


Two years ago, Kevin Owens made his main roster debut by making a big statement during John Cena’s U.S. Open Challenge. In one segment, Owens established himself as a dominant presence both in the ring and on the microphone against Cena. A couple of weeks later, Owens defeated Cena clean at the WWE Elimination Chamber PPV. After his massive victory over John Cena, Kevin Owens was a made man on the main roster.

Simultaneously, Owens was also dominating NXT as its champion. He feuded with Cena and Finn Balor for the duration of the summer until making the full-time jump to Raw and SmackDown. All of his success was the foundation that has made him into the WWE Superstar he is today. With his “Fight Owens Fight” DVD being released this week, some new information has come to light regarding his main roster debut on Raw.

Apparently, John Cena was responsible for the idea that brought Owens to Raw as the NXT Champion back in the summer of 2015. Triple H revealed the following about John Cena seeing Owens as “very authentic.”

“Kevin came across as very authentic. And I think Vince saw that. I know Cena saw that because Cena was the one that went to Vince and said that ‘lemme do this US open challenge with him and bring him to TV’. It just all worked out.”

[Image by WWE]

John Cena gets a lot of flack from the WWE Universe for being selfish. There is a strange stigma over Cena’s career that he’s buried or failed to put over other performers. Of course, there are instances where someone should have won instead of him, but those bookings can’t be placed solely on Cena’s shoulders. Kevin Owens is a prime example of him helping to create a new star not only by association but by putting him over clean.

[Image by WWE]

Some people would argue that Owens losing the next two matches in their rivalry was the “kiss of death” for him as a main event star. Many fans tend to think in terms of wins and losses in wrestling to make it similar to every other sport. However, Owens had three straight PPV matches with the biggest star in the company and the fans still remember them. That is more than enough to boost a career.

The proof of that statement is two years later, Kevin Owens is one of the best performers in WWE today. It’s very likely that Owens would have reached superstardom if his debut had gone differently, but John Cena’s desire to work with him catapulted him to become the WWE Superstar he is right now.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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