5 Former WWE Superstars who praised Kevin Owens
At first glance, Kevin Owens hardly resembles your typical WWE Superstar. Owens is barely six-foot-tall and does not possess the chiseled physique of a Drew McIntyre or John Cena.
Despite his appearance, though, Owens has had much success in WWE since signing with the company and joining NXT back in August 2014. In addition to the NXT Championship, the 36-year-old Canadian has had multiple reigns with both the United States and Intercontinental titles as well.
It is Owens' sole run as Universal Champion, however, that ranks as his biggest accolade to date. 'KO' enjoyed an entertaining run as a champion between August 2016 and March 2017, where he was a consistent highlight on RAW.
Owens is currently embroiled in a feud with Roman Reigns on SmackDown, where he is looking to claim the Universal Championship for a second time.
However, when he was first hired by WWE, few predicted that Kevin Owens would go on to win a World Championship in the promotion. One man who saw Owens' potential at a very early stage, though, is former WWE Superstar Jacques Rougeau, better known to fans as The Mountie.
Speaking to Dr. Chris Featherstone on the most recent edition of SK Wrestling's Inside SKoop, Rougeau recalled being immediately impressed when a young Kevin Owens came to workout at the veteran's training school:
"Kevin Owens. What a great athlete! He came to my school, and it was fun because it was a time when I was practicing my family-orientated shows. So I based my shows on mostly skills, mostly timing and good workers. In those days, the great workers, you could recognise them by saying “This guy could go in there and work with a broom!” And Kevin Owens was really good." said Rougeau
Rougeau also highlighted how quick Owens was at picking up new skills - both in the ring and on the microphone:
"When he came, I started him from scratch. I showed him how to get a headlock tight. I showed him how to do an interview. All the interviews he did after that, it was really things that we practiced." said Rougeau
The Mountie, though, is far from the only former active WWE Superstar to have praised Owens, as many other legends have also expressed their appreciation and respect for the Prizefighter in the past.
Here are five former WWE Superstars who have praised Kevin Owens.
#5 Bret Hart once called Kevin Owens his favorite current WWE Superstar
When it comes to Canadian professional wrestlers, Bret Hart is pretty much royalty. So when Hart called his countryman Owens "my number one favourite wrestler in wrestling right now" back in 2015, it was high praise indeed.
The Hitman made the glowing statement during a Q & A session with Canadian broadcaster TSN, in which he also dismissed criticisms of Owens' physical condition:
"He's very good. He's a Canadian guy and he's a really hard working wrestler. And he looks like a wrestler. Too many of the wrestlers today... I've heard some people say they don't like that he's kind of heavy, he's a big, solid looking guy. I wouldn't say that he's a fat guy at all. When I think of fat, I think of fat fat. He doesn't look like... he looks like a brickhouse, like he looks solid as a rock, and he moves like a 100-pounder."
"He's doing stuff that no big man ever dreamed of doing that I've ever seen, even some of the great big men like Bam Bam Bigelow. There's been a lot of big men that were really agile and quick and had a lot of wrestling skills and stuff like that but Kevin Owens is, to me, my number one favorite wrestler in wrestling right now." said Hart
Hart was known during his own Hall of Fame career as being one of the very best at having great matches with larger Superstars. Judging by his comments, he would have loved to have worked with Owens in the ring. A fantastic endorsement for Kevin Owens from one of the best of all-time.