Kevin Owens has been a man with a wide variety of offense at his disposal, but one of the most noticeable changes over the past couple of years is Owens dropping the pop up powerbomb as his finisher in favor of the Stunner.
Owens talked to Fightful about the change to the Stunner and how he had wanted to do it for some time, but the WWE hadn’t felt it was the right time until he eventually began using it. He also spoke about how he got permission from Stone Cold Steve Austin to use it and how apparently Austin had been waiting for someone to ask him to use it.
“I asked Austin if I could do it, first and foremost. I had been thinking about it for awhile, this was back in 2016-17, and I felt like everybody was doing a powerbomb of some sort, just short of doing pop-up powerbombs. I’m pretty sure I saw some guys do it too. That’s a whole other thing of people take from other people and when we’re all on the same show and same team, that’s a whole other issue. I was seeing all these people doing powerbombs and I want to stand out with something different. At the same time, I wanted to do something that people can be excited about. I got this feeling of ‘maybe I can use the Stunner.’ It’s been used throughout the years by a lot of people, but it wasn’t a finishing move anymore. I thought, ‘Maybe if I get advice from Stone Cold himself, I can figure out how to make it a finishing move again.’ I went to him, asked him if I was okay with him using it and he was very happy to say yes. He was wondering when someone would come ask him. He gave me the green light, I took it through the proper channels and it was deemed that it wasn’t the right time for it, but eventually it became the right time and here we are now. I’m doing my best to keep it…I call it the Stunner because I’m never going to change its name, it wouldn’t feel right. I’m doing my best to do right by it. That’s also a polarizing issue. Some people love it, some people really don’t like that I do it. Those people can take their opinions elsewhere. Steve Austin said I can do it and I’m not gonna stop anytime soon.”
Kevin Owens grew up a Steve Austin fan, so the opportunity to get his blessing on using his finisher must mean a lot to him. The fact Owens has gone out of its way to make the move meaningful again as a powerful finisher just shows how much he values the move as well. You can watch the interview below.
h/t to Fightful for the quote.
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