“Stone Chilly” Steve Austin wrestled for the primary time in 19 years at WrestleMania 38, defeating Kevin Owens in the principle occasion of WWE’s 2022 showcase. It was a surreal second for Owens, a lifelong fan who was a young person when Austin retired after dropping to The Rock at WrestleMania 19.
Whereas it marked the one time Austin and Owens wrestled one another, their first encounter really predates Owens’ WWE profession.
Owens and fellow WWE famous person Sami Zayn are longtime pals who plied their craft on the impartial skilled wrestling scene. One significantly lengthy journey day of their early years put them on a flight with a bonafide legend.
“We had been about to board our third flight. We had been actually useless drained,” Owens mentioned in a teaser for A&E’s upcoming “Biography: WWE Legends” about Austin’s final match, premiering on Might 19. “I keep in mind strolling in direction of the water fountain, I seemed to my left and my first thought was, ‘Oh, that man appears to be like like Steve Austin. Wait, that is Steve Austin.'”
A giddy Owens rushed to tell Zayn about his discovery. Zayn awakened in a daze, clueless as to why Owens was hurrying them away.
“I am on the bottom sleeping,” Zayn mentioned. “I am so out of it and I get woken up in a panic by Kevin. He says, ‘Dude, come on! We gotta go! Proper now! We gotta go!’ I am in such a haze that, for some motive, I am of the understanding that he is gotten into some form of altercation and desires me as backup. I assumed we had been about to go have a fistfight.”
“As we’re strolling in direction of Austin, [Zayn] goes, ‘Who’re we combating?'” Owens recalled. “I mentioned, ‘What?!’ He thought I used to be asking him to return battle some guys. Which to his credit score, he was coming … I mentioned, ‘No, we will see Steve Austin.’ Sami appears to be like up, sees him and goes, ‘That is not Steve A… Oh shit, it’s!’ So, we approached him.”
Austin can be forgiven for not remembering one in every of his numerous exchanges with wrestling followers and hopefuls, however his reminiscence is sharp as he verifies Owens’ story: “I keep in mind Kevin Owens coming as much as him and Sami Zayn was there as effectively. Kevin began working off on the mouth about how good it was to satisfy me. He was a longtime fan of mine.”
“We in all probability ended up speaking to him for a very good 10 minutes,” Owens mentioned. “It was time to board. They known as first-class which, clearly, he was on and we weren’t. Proper earlier than he boarded, I mentioned, ‘Hey earlier than you go, if in case you have one piece of recommendation for us, what’s it?'”
Austin imparted easy however essential recommendation that reshaped Owens’ method to professional wrestling. Owens does not have a bombastic microphone presence like The Rock or Ric Aptitude. His charisma, as a substitute, is exercised by way of quick-wittedness, comedic timing, improvised trash discuss and an aggressive imply streak. Sharpening these abilities had been emphasised by the WWE Corridor of Famer.
“I mentioned, ‘Child, you must learn to run your mouth,” Austin recalled. “Discover ways to discuss.”
“I took that recommendation to coronary heart,” Owens mentioned. “It is an understatement after I say that recommendation in all probability helped me get to the place I’m at the moment. For certain.”
It is outstanding how a lot the careers of Owens and Austin have intertwined since that likelihood assembly. Owens had but to debut within the WWE and Austin’s in-ring profession had ended. Quick-forward to the current, and Owens has adopted the anti-authority persona that outlined “Stone Chilly” within the Angle Period.
Each Owens match is a nod to Austin, from refined persona traits to the legendary Stunner ending transfer that Austin gifted Owens.