Kevin Steen was one of the big international free agents that WWE signed this summer. They brought in Japanese superstars KENTA and named him Hideo Itami in NXT. Ireland's Prince Devitt is named Finn Balor, although he has yet to appear on NXT (though it is coming soon). What about Canada's Kevin Steen? He hasn't appeared on WWE NXT yet, however he's apparently he's got a new WWE name: Kevin Owens. The reported new name comes from PWInsider, who noted that WWE applied to trademark "Kevin Owens" as a character name for a professional wrestler on October 24th. They also noted that it's for Steen. What's interesting about the name is that Steen has said that Owen Hart was one of his favourite wrestlers and he also named his son Owen. He has a son and daughter with his wife. It's likely that Steen got to pick the name because obviously the name Owen means a lot to him, so to turn it into Owens is a no brainer. Some WWE fans complain about new names for wrestlers just because they want them to use their old names, or in Steen's case his real name, but there's nothing wrong with Kevin Owens. When will "Kevin Owens" debut? Nothing is confirmed although there's a strong possibility that it may happen at NXT Takeover: Evolution on December 11th. All of the NXT shows are taped up until that point. They might want him to make a big splash right away, so his first appearance will likely be at that event. On a related note, here's a video of Kevin Steen from a few years ago with his son Owen "winning" his first match when he was six months old. The video is from Steen's own Youtube channel, so it's probably a very special moment for him. If you're wondering, the guy in the black mask with the beard is El Generico aka Sami Zayn, who is Steen's best friend. They started in wrestling together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4-agWY1qBg It's really cool that he's using his son's name as his last name and also as a tribute to his favourite wrestler Owen Hart. We look forward to his WWE debut soon.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
