https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_13B5WXUGU Let's be honest, Kevin Steen doesn't look like your traditional professional wrestler. Is he in better shape than your average pro wrestling forum critic? Of course he is. Is he in better shape than John Cena? No. He is not. At all. But Steen's problem has never been how fit he actually is, it's how he looks. Anyone who's seen him wrestle knows how good his cardio is. He can wrestle an intense, hour long match and will be kicking just as hard in the 59th minute as the 1st. His problem is that he looks a little overweight for a wrestler. If you look back at wrestlers of similar shape, two ultra-succesful examples jump out: Mick Foley and Bray Wyatt. One proves that you can become a world champion under Vince McMahon, the other proves you can still make it in today's WWE. What they both have in common is their promo ability. When they talk, you believe them. When they look down the camera, right into your eyes, and they say they are going to do something, you believe them. Steen has the same quality. Sure, Foley and Wyatt are legitimately good actors, and Steen has some ways to go in that regard. But he has an inherent believability about him. His promos are not as manic as Foley, as articulate as Wyatt or as on-the-nose as Punk, but when he talks you listen. And that takes you a long way in WWE.
Michael Palmer is a contributor at whatculture.com and thelineofbestfit.com, and he probably likes WWE slightly more than most people would call "healthy".