15 Things We Learned From Kevin Owens On Talk Is Jericho
14. Overcoming The Criticism
Throughout his career, people have constantly told Kevin that he needed to make drastic changes; specifically that he needed to get in better shape or change up his gear and overall appearance. Jericho says that he's not the prototypical look that WWE usually goes for and KO acknowledges that, saying he hears those criticisms all the time.
He tried wrestling in a singlet for a while and it just wasn't him. He's also been accused of having a bad attitude, but says that the ones who singled him out for having a negative attitude are just people he didn't see eye-to-eye with.
Jim Cornette, who booked for Ring of Honor when Owens worked there and is a well-known detractor of the Universal champion, has now said that the only reason KO is successful is because he's changed his attitude and is finally listening to the frequent criticism. Owens says that the reason he constantly butted heads with Cornette is that he didn't agree with him or share his vision, and that contrary to what Jim thinks he hasn't had to change who he is at all.
Even now, if he's working on something and he doesn't agree with the idea, he'll speak up and give his opinion - something Jericho confirms - rather than just blindly go along with anything he's told to do if he doesn't like it. He guesses that's what Jim wanted from him back then and it just wasn't going to happen.
Chris can relate and adds that when he first came in he had ideas that he wanted to contribute and none of the agents, with the exception of Pat Patterson wanted to work with him because of it. The legendary booker enjoyed the back-and-forth sharing of creativity where as everyone else would just cut him off right away.
Kevin says that he's been fortunate in that from the moment he arrived in WWE he feels like he's had a great relationship with everyone, and thus far hasn't received any pushback in that sense, maintaining a good rapport with the writers and producers. He can only recall one specific time where he was strongly opposed to an idea they had for him and he spoke up about it. He ultimately went ahead with what they had planned and it turned out fine, but other than that there's been no negative encounters.