From The Vault Review: “Fight Owens Fight”

Kevin Owens has been making waves in WWE lately, especially after what happened after Saturday Night’s Main Event with Cody Rhodes. Before SmackDown tonight and the fallout from that, I thought I’d look at the Kevin Owens documentary recently uploaded to WWE Vault.

“Fight Owens Fight” was a WWE DVD release way back in 2017. It was after the big boom period for WWE DVDs as well as the uploading of many of their documentaries to WWE Network, so it’s a lesser known documentary. Now with WWE Vault, however, it’s out there for those of us who missed it.

We begin with Kevin Owens, telling us he crew up in Marieville as his child coughs in the background. His wife takes the kid away as he giggles, telling us he wouldn’t be here without his family. They believed in him when many didn’t. His journey was full of doubters and after fifteen years of scepticism, he knows he is Kevin Owens and has proven them all wrong.

Fight Owens Fight – The Kevin Owens Story

The Canadian flag waves as we look around Marieville. Kevin’s father rented WrestleMania XI and Kevin watched it with him. He was scrawny and saw Shawn Michaels, smaller than the others, being the best on the show and it made him realize maybe this is what he wanted to do. Terry Steen – Kevin’s Dad says it was “wrestling, wrestling, wrestling” from that day on. We see childhood KO posing in a Y2J shirt. KO says he got in the ring and it just hurt, and he told his mom he couldn’t do it.

Kevin put a mattress outside and tried it again, getting the hang of it. He went back to the ring and was already better, realizing that maybe he can do this. Neil Felzenstein remembers meeting Kevin in 1999, seeing this 150-lb kid practicing 450 degree splashes over and over. Kevin was the prize student. Kevin’s first time wrestling in front of a crowd was at sixteen and his dad says he was incredible, becoming somebody else in the ring. Sami Zayn remembers the first time he had heard of Kevin, watching wrestling with Neil and Neil kept talking about Kevin Steen. Neil told Sami that Kevin was really good and he knew it. Steve Corino says Kevin knew who he was at eighteen and was the future of wrestling.

Kevin’s moveset consisted of others’ moves as he was a big fan, hitting moves like Stunners and RVD’s moves. Kevin says he was smaller then but still big to be doing some of the things he did. We see Kevin wrestling this El Genericho gentleman in the Canadian indies as Sami coincidentally is telling us about how Kevin was a prodigy.

Sami says the biggest moment in their career was when some guys they worked with went to an ICW event and one of them, Sexy Eddie, severed his arm on light tubes. Sami says it was just spewing from his arm and American fans started to see some of the Quebec guys were big. Kevin, Genericho and others had a fatal-four match for CZW that opened the door for them to wrestle in PWG and ROH. Sami says that match made their name.

Fans chant “Mr. Wrestling” as we watch Kevin wrestle in Ring of Honor. Johnny Gargano says that independent fans knew the name “Kevin Steen” while AJ Styles says Steen possessed skills that nobody understood how he could do. Neville, wearing more than tights for some reason for once in his life, says that Kevin moves like a cruiserweight despite being a large man. Neville says that Kevin was the king of trash talking and it helped build his reputation.

Kevin learned French growing up and didn’t know English, but actually learned it from watching wrestling. Kevin relates to his teaching asking how to say the word “elbow” in English, and Kevin remembered Jim Ross saying “elbow” while watching Vader drop an elbow. “Holy shit, I’m learning English through wrestling!” Neil says there were a lot of Jim Rossisms when meeting Kevin at first. Kevin loved to talk smack, saying it became a thing he really started doing when he met Steve Austin at an airport in 2005. Not at the airport! Steve told Kevin to never stop running his mouth and Kevin says he hasn’t shut up since.

Kevin says trash talk was his calling card. Seth Rollins notes Kevin’s natural charisma, remembering how he and Jimmy Jacobs lost the ROH tag titles to Kevin and Sami though they keep showing the Genericho fellow in the footage instead. Chris Scoville – “Jimmy Jacobs” says it was the biggest pop he had ever been a part of. Kevin talks about it being one of the biggest responses of his entire career. Seth calls them unstoppable and says the ROH fanbase loved Kevin and Sami. Jacobs says they almost had an asterisk by their name, feeling like others thought they didn’t look like wrestlers. Steve Corino says others were threatened by them, with only Bryan Danielson being a bigger star on the shows.

Sami says he and Kevin were riding back from a show and if Kevin feels something he is doing isn’t important, he knows it is time to change it. Kevin felt it was time to split with Genericho to freshen things up. They mapped out a year’s plan from one Final Battle to the next as we watch Kevin and Genericho embrace, including both men crying. And then Kevin says he hates him and kicks him in the balls, the falls so upset and Kevin saying, “That moment was so awesome.” Rollins calls it something special, shocking people so much. He knew that was the moment where both men elevated themselves as individuals, especially Kevin.

Sami says the moment changed both him and Kevin as performers. Corino says it was a huge moment for Ring of Honor and the moment it needed to stay relevant, with Neville saying it was the hottest feud outside of WWE. Kevin tells us that Jim Cornette came up with the idea of their last match being a loser leaves ROH match, with Sami thinking it was because Cornette didn’t like them and it was a way to get them out. Kevin lost and had to leave, and Kevin was genuinely not happy and struggling financially.

Kevin thought his dream of becoming a WWE Superstar had been abandoned, perhaps it was not the right move for his family. Sami says that family became the #1 priority for Kevin as we watch home video of Kevin with the kids. He considered quitting, doing a podcast with a friend and not being able to answer what was next for him. “Maybe I’ll just quit.” Kevin’s dad reminded him that it is a goal, not a dream, and you’ve got to go after your goals.

Kevin did a PWG show a few days later and felt it turned things around, perhaps reinventing himself. He returned at Best in the World 2011 in the Hammerstein Ballroom, showing up in the rafters. The fans erupted and Jacobs says that was when he knew Kevin was special. Corino calls it Kevin’s justification, still being the top guy despite Cornette trying to starve him out.

Sami talks about how chaotic and edgy it was with Owens as he was Ring of Honor’s Stone Cold, showing up and doing what he wanted and never getting boos. Owens won the ROH World Title, but felt like it was almost too late and they had no other choice. Owens thinks the crowd knew he was going to win and it wasn’t as special as he thought it would be.

Genericho had a tryout with WWE that summer. Sami brought a contract with him when he met Kevin that summer, feeling like it was “theirs.” Sami signed his WWE contract in front of Kevin, which stung Kevin. Kevin thought he was nowhere near and was under contract with ROH for two more years, feeling it was really rough. Sami hoped Kevin would get signed too, then felt concerned that Kevin wouldn’t get there because of family time.

Neville thought Kevin would never get signed – “somebody that Vince would have no interest in.” Rollins says he never thought Owens would get signed either just based on how he looked. Triple H tells us he was scouring the “little indie promotions” and William Regal says his name popped up a lot. Regal went and saw PWG and one time was all it took. Kevin and Gargano had a great match, but Kevin says he was working for one person – Regal. Regal knew he was everything he thought he was and more. We watch Kevin’s tryout, Kevin calling it the hardest thing he’s ever done.

Kevin cuts a promo (above thanks to WWE Vault) for the Performance Center crew, talking about seeing his best friend sign a contract and how much it ruined his life. In the promo, he says he’s coming for Sami first. He knew he was hired when he was done. He was told by the coaches to not get his hopes up for the main roster because Vince might not have been his fan, but he was getting a shot on NXT. It was felt he’d never go past NXT.

12/11/14: Kevin says the craziest part of the night was the “Then, Now, Forever” opener airing and getting goosebumps and it was like watching it at home with his parents as it happened. He was the first face to appear after that. “When I saw my face, I went ‘holy (bleep).” His music hits – which people didn’t know yet – and he walks out to a huge ovation, saying it can’t get better than that. Sami wins the title at the end of the night, HHH saying it was such a good moment for Sami but then Kevin stole his thunder and it was great. Kevin attacks Sami after the match with the fans in shock. Terry Taylor says Owens inserted himself right in the main event picture.

TakeOver Rival happens and Owens wins the NXT Championship from Sami. HHH and Dusty Rhodes give him hugs and we see him backstage crying, as one would do when this kind of thing happens. Kevin felt like things were going so fast. He went to WrestleMania with the company a year after going as a fan, and we see him meet Hulk Hogan. Hulk tells him he was watching NXT and Owens gave him goosebumps. He also meets The Rock, talking about the guys he trained with talking about him. HHH thinks Kevin had one of the shortest runs in developmental because he was such a sponge and picked up everything he needed.

HHH says John Cena went to Vince and wanted to do the U.S. Title Open Challenge with Owens. This leads us to Elimination Chamber as KO makes his WWE PPV debut in a champion versus champion match against John Cena. We watch footage of Kevin’s son’s reaction when KO appears on Raw to wrestle John Cena. Dean Ambrose thinks confronting John Cena was a hell of a way to make an impact. Well, I certainly hope this Ambrose fella doesn’t think of any other crazy ways to make an impact. John Cena tells us that Owens can talk and has a personality that demands attention. Neville thinks KO was thrown in so deep and credit is due for how well Owens did with it. Cena thinks his in-ring skills are unparalleled.

Rollins talks about the series of Owens-Cena matches and how fantastic they were and how they cemented Kevin’s spot on the main roster. Owens wins the Intercontinental Title, saying it was the title he fantasized about winning as a kid and it was always the one he liked the most. Ambrose talks about battling back and forth for the belt for a few months with Owens and they took pride in how good the matches were.

WrestleMania 32. Kevin and Sami talk about the smallest crowd they’ve wrestled in front of – 23 people – in comparison to how large this event is. Scott Hall tells him backstage to quit talking about it and start doing it, Kevin telling us it was a dream. He encountered Steve Austin at the curtain and thought it was a full-circle moment. I wonder if they’ll ever meet at a WrestleMania. Probably not.

Sami recounts what a pop Owens got when his music hit and he had goosebumps. Owens tells us, “I felt like the (bleep) king of the world.” Sami felt like it was a “how did we get here” moment as they competed in the Intercontinental ladder match with each other. Kevin says if his career ended tomorrow, he’d be okay with it because it was an unbelievable feeling. Zack Ryder wins the belt and KO says it is onto bigger and better things. “I’d love to see them stop me.”

Jacobs feels Kevin is never satisfied. He says Kevin is passionate but can be difficult to deal with because he does not take “good enough” as just that. Neville says Kevin “is a bit of a prick” and he respects how family-driven he is. Rollins says there is nothing more important to Kevin, and Sami tells us that Kevin goes not only the extra mile but the extra ten miles for them.

Next for Kevin, he wrestles Sami in their first main roster match on Payback. They think they stole the show and it was validating after doing it for years. Sami thinks of how crazy it is. They wrestle again at Battleground and Sami calls it their best match. Daniel Bryan appears to tell both men he loved it and the match was fantastic. Jacobs calls it the best match he’s seen, with Owens again calling it validating. He was looking forward to an epic match at SummerSlam showing where he belonged – and then he got stuck with Jericho against Enzo & Big Cass and it was not where he wanted to be.

After SummerSlam, we go to Raw and he tells us he’d rather be closing the show instead of opening it teaming with Jericho. Finn Balor relinquishes the Universal Title due to injury and Owens finds his way into a match with Roman Reigns, Rollins and Cass for that vacant title. KO says he’s pictured what could happen tonight thousands of times.

After highlights of a very good match, we see Triple H pedigree Roman, giving Rollins the chance to eliminate Reigns. Then HHH turns on Rollins and pedigrees him, KO looking on in shock and scurrying over for the pin and the Universal Title. Owens feels like all the moments flashed through his eyes as Triple H raised his arm, and he owes so much to him. Sami was watching him win the title and felt like he had no emotion because he couldn’t believe what he was watching. The tears flow as they embrace backstage and Owens tells him, “This is ours.”

Backstage, Kevin says it doesn’t really get better than this as far as his career is concerned. He’s thankful for his parents pushing him into wrestling instead of pushing him out as most parents would. His dad cries as he tells us how proud he is of his son. We watch his son talking about how speechless he is after watching.

Bryan thinks what makes Owens so good is that he doesn’t listen, knows he’s awesome and is confident in what he can do. Gargano knew there was always the question if he would be “the guy” but then he won the NXT Title… made it to the main roster… made it to WrestleMania… and became Universal Champion. “Those questions are gone, Kevin’s the man.” Neville would have never believed Owens would win the title ten years ago, but Kevin broke down the barriers. Taylor says Owens redefined “the look” and HHH says Owens just needed the opportunity.

Rollins says Owens is so relatable to the audience and that’s what makes him different. Sami thinks Kevin has his finger on the pulse and is never irrelevant. Owens calls it an incredible ride and he has his dream job, but it wouldn’t mean as much without his wife and kids and how proud it makes his parents. “This is all I could ever picture myself doing with my life.” End scene.

Kevin is the man. Of course, looking at where he was in 2017 and how much he’s done since is wild. He main-evented Mania in Stone Cold’s return match. He and Sami lit up the world in another Mania main event with the Usos. And now he’s doing big things with Cody. It’s wild, but KO deserves it all.