Kevin Owens had some of his favorite matches during the pandemic
Kevin Owens recently opened up about some of his favorite matches from his decade-long career, and some of them came during the pandemic.
Owens is currently embroiled in a feud against The Bloodline. He was part of the WarGames match at Survivor Series, where he was attacked by Sami Zayn and would ultimately lose the match for his team. There has been speculation recently that he will challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Royal Rumble.
The Prizefighter recently appeared on the After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves, where he discussed the last time he feuded with The Tribal Chief. Kevin challenged Reigns for the Universal title in December 2020 - January 2021, smack dab in the middle of the pandemic. The former NXT Champion has revealed that those matches against Reigns were some of his favorites of his career.
"Yeah, you know, to me, those three matches we had are some of my favorites I’ve ever had. And they were like I said in front of nobody. And that’s not true, they weren’t in front of nobody was there in front of you guys, or in front of our production team. You know what I mean?" said Kevin Owens. [h/t Inside The Ropes]
They first battled in a TLC match at the namesake premium live event in 2020. They then wrestled in a Steel Cage on the Christmas Day episode of SmackDown. The two would go one-on-one for the last time at Royal Rumble 2021 in a memorable Last Man Standing match. All these matches were won by Roman.
Never forget when Roman Reigns tried to kill Kevin Owens with a golf cart! #smackdown https://t.co/UMViCzIfMP
How did Kevin Owens stay motivated amidst the pandemic?
During the same interview, Kevin Owens discussed how he kept his motivation for wrestling high despite performing in front of no crowds.
The former Universal Champion stated that he and other talents would perform for and seek the approval of the WWE production team present in the empty arenas and the Thunderdome.
"Well, I would just keep our production team, our camera crews, our commentators, everybody that has seen wrestling for a very long time, they’re my audience now. And if I have a match, and our camera guy is super sweaty, come up to me after and tell me, ‘Hey, that was really good.’ Those guys have seen it all for a very long time. If I’m able to entertain them and make them not, you know, forget about the fact that they’re holding a 45-pound camera and filming just two guys wrestling again. You know, if I’m able to make them enjoy themselves well, I’ve done something good." [h/t Inside The Ropes]
Just saying Kevin Owens was thrown off the thunderdome and hit tables not a crash pad https://t.co/XtYQ8ypZtQ
Kevin Owens would go on to say, however, that despite the appreciation of his peers and fellow workers, working in front of a live crowd is incomparable.