Kevin Owens has revealed a random TV pairing that he turned down.
The former Universal Champion recently appeared on Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Wanna Talk About podcast. He discussed things such as working with Dusty Rhodes, feeling the effects of his neck injury, when he is planning to get surgery, and more.
During the interview, KO also discussed his rivalry with Roman Reigns that started back in the Thunderdome era. He revealed that at the time, officials had pitched him the idea of joining forces with Damian Priest, who was still in NXT:
“I’m at television and they tell me, ‘Things are kind of changing now. You’re going to be introduced to your new best friend to help you take on the Bloodline because of the numbers games.’ ‘
Who is this guy?’ ‘Do you know Damian Priest from NXT?’ ‘The guy with arrows?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, nothing against him, but no one would believe that we’re best friends. We could not be more opposite. Why? It’s so random.’”
He Was Going To Take My Match: Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens had a highly praised Last Man Standing match with Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble 2021. While WWE would revisit their rivalry later on, the bout was the end of their feud at the time.
The Canadian star revealed that the idea was for Priest to get the match with The Tribal Chief instead and Owens was understandably not a fan:
“Turns out, somebody threw this idea out there and it stuck for about five minutes before I said no. I didn’t want to be friends with him on TV. Maybe real life, let’s start somewhere.
He was going to take my match. It was going to be him vs. Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble. I was incensed. I said no. For what it’s worth, I didn’t derail his career, he was on the main roster like two weeks later.”
Damian Priest would end up making his Raw debut on the night after Royal Rumble. He was paired with Bad Bunny and the two teamed against The Miz and John Morrison for a match at WrestleMania that year.