WWE News: Kevin Owens Credits ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin For Getting Him Into WWE

In 2005, Kevin Owens, who was a young, up-and-coming independent wrestler known as Kevin Steen, was traveling to California with Sami Zayn, when they realized that they were on the same flight as the biggest superstar in the history of WWE, the “Texas Rattlesnake,” “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

When Owens saw that Austin was on his flight, he told Zayn that they needed to go up and talk to Austin, and get advice from one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time. Owens was bold enough to introduce himself to “Stone Cold,” and Austin was gracious enough to give Owens the advice that he needed to get him to where he is today.

Earlier this year, Kevin Owens was a guest on Chris Jericho’s podcast — Talk is Jericho— and he described his brief conversation with Austin, and he revealed the advice that Austin gave him, which Owens admitted got him to where he is today.

“I was on my way to a show with Sami Zayn in California, PWG once again, and we were on a layover in Texas and [Steve Austin] happened to be on our flight. I was like ‘we have to go talk to him. We have to.’ So I went up to him and we talked a bit. He was very nice. Right before he headed off, right before he boarded the flight — cause, you know, he was on first class, so he got the priority boarding — I just asked ‘do you have any advice at all, just anything?’ And he said ‘just run your mouth. Just never stop running your mouth. Just learn how to talk.’ And I took that to heart from that moment on.”

Most would agree that Owens has become one of the best characters in WWE, on top of him being one of the company’s in-ring performers, and on Monday night, Owens thanked Austin publicly yet again via Twitter, and had the chance to thank him in person, as Austin was backstage at Monday’s RAW preparing for the Stone Cold Podcast with Edge and Christian.

Since Owens’ debut in NXT, Stone Cold has given nothing but high praise to the former NXT champion. But, Austin isn’t the only WWE legend to praise Owens, as Hulk Hogan said that Owens “made him a believer again,” and Bret “The Hitman” Hart named Owens as his favorite wrestler in WWE. So, it’s pretty clear that Owens took Austin’s advice, ran with it, and ran with it well.

[Image via JP Yim / Getty Images]