What’s the story?
A Japanese wrestling fan page by the name of “Japanese Puroresu Ichiban” has posted a photo of WWE United States Champion Kevin Owens from early in his career. The photo shows a much younger and thinner Owens wrestling in Japan.
The post can be seen below:
In case you didn’t know...
Kevin Owens, formerly known as Kevin Steen, has had an extensive career on the independent professional wrestling circuit prior to him joining the WWE in 2014. Owens has been wrestling since the age of 14 and has performed for promotions all over the world, including the ones in Japan.
The heart of the matter
Responding to a fan question, the Japanese professional wrestling fan page “Japanese Puroresu Ichiban” posted a picture of Kevin Owens on their page. The post also stated that Kevin Owens had indeed wrestled in Japan in his career, wrestling in the ZERO1 and Dragon Gate promotions.
The image shows a much younger and thinner Kevin Owens in a red and black wrestling singlet standing in the corner of a wrestling ring while another wrestler/performer looks on.
Also read: 5 reasons why Kevin Owens should drop the US title
While it is difficult to ascertain when the image was taken, it could be from Owens’ 2006 GATE OF VICTORY tour of Japan with the Dragon Gate promotion, where he had several memorable matches against CIMA and Jack Evans, often partnering with Gamma during tag team bouts.
The tour happened before Owens was ever signed on to Ring of Honor as he was featuring in the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) promotion at the time instead.
What’s next?
Kevin Owens is slated to take part in a 6-man Money In The Bank Ladder match at the SmackDown-exclusive Money In The Bank Pay Per View on 18th June 2017. Owens will be going up against AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn.
Author’s take
Kevin Owens has had a much longer professional wrestling career than most people realise. The man lives and breathes professional wrestling and has done so all his life. The image is but a small testament to the long and storied career that Owens has had, even though he is only 33 years old.
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