Why does Kevin Owens use the stunner?

Kevin Owens is a Canadian professional wrestler signed with WWE for the SmackDown brand as of February 2025. Owens started his pro-wrestling career in 2000, at the age of 16, and worked with multiple wrestling units before joining WWE, where he wrestled under his real name, Kevin Steen. Some of the wrestling promotions that he has been a part of include Ring of Honor (ROH), Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG), International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS), All American Wrestling (AAW), and Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW). He signed with WWE’s development branch, NXT, in 2014 and was promoted to the main roster the following year.

In over his 23 years of pro wrestling career, Kevin Owens has held multiple championships, including the ROH World Championship, ROH World Tag Team Championship, PWG World Heavyweight Championship, PWG World Tag Team Championship thrice, the IWS World Heavyweight Championship thrice, AAW Heavyweight Championship, CZW Ironman Championship, NXT Championship, WWE United States Championship twice, Intercontinental Championship twice, and Universal Championship once. KO has also main-evented WrestleMania for two years in a row.

Also Read: Who is Kevin Owens married to?

The reason behind Kevin Owens's Stunner move

Kevin Owens uses Stunner out of respect for Steve Austin. In a 2022 interview with Fightful.com, Owens stated that as the powerbomb move was being used by multiple wrestlers, he wanted his finisher to be more exciting and decided to go with the Stunner. He said:

"I asked Austin if I could do it, first and foremost. I had been thinking about it for a while, this was back in 2016-17, and I felt like everybody was doing a powerbomb of some sort, just short of doing pop-up powerbomb. I was seeing all these people doing powerbombs and I want to stand out with something different. At the same time, I wanted to do something that people can be excited about. I got this feeling of 'maybe I can use the Stunner.'

Over the years, Kevin Owens used the Pop-Up Powerbomb as his primary finishing move, where he throws an opponent over the shoulder and delivers a wicked powerbomb. He has used this move against wrestlers of different sizes.

During a baby face run in 2019, Kevin Owens started using the “Stunner” as his finishing move. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin made this move famous. However, when Stone Cold left the WWE in 2002, his finisher wasn't adopted by any other wrestler. Kevin Owens brought this finisher back to the ring and is using it as his primary finishing move as of February 2025.

Kevin Owens faced “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in a match at Wrestlemania 38, headlined “Battle of Stunners”.

Also Read: Who was Kevin Owens trained by?

Kevin Owens' other moves

Apart from his Stunner finisher, Kevin Owens has used Pop Up Powerbomb, F-Cinq, Package Piledriver, Sharpshooter, Steenalizer, Go Home Driver, and Steen Breaker as his signature moves. (via Cagematch)