10 Indy "Veterans" Making WWE TV Very Watchable Right Now
2. Kevin Owens
At some point, WWE just realized that the only thing they needed to change about Kevin Steen was his last name. In the miserable, evil bastard that terrorized independent wrestling for a decade finally terrorizing WWE, it's an incredible positive for the wrestling business overall. WWE's never really had a Kevin Owens-type performer. He's a fat guy who wrestles like a skinny dude and cuts promos like a legend. He also does more with less very well, while other independent performers who come to WWE oftentimes fail by doing more with more and being deemed unsafe for just not "WWE material." Kevin Owens is the WWE Intercontinental Champion. If another very gifted indy stalwart wasn't already the WWE World Champion, Kevin Owens would probably deserve a shot at winning that championship, too.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.