The Whig has a brand new interview with NXT Champion and WWE Superstar Kevin Owens. Below are a few highlights from Owens’ conversation with Jan Murphy.

His first exposure to WWE:

“My dad rented a tape of WrestleMania 11 when I was 11 years old and I watched it with him, and that was it. I saw Shawn Michaels wrestle Diesel and that kind of sealed the deal for me. I knew that that’s what I was meant to do.”

On Owens’ first ever pro wrestling match:

“I had 60 family members in the crowd. My brother cried and my grandfather, who is not with us anymore, but was such a big fan of mine and was always so supportive of my wrestling endeavour — he would take me to WWE shows when I was a kid — he was just so proud. I remember as I was walking to the back, he was by the rail, and I went to slap his hand but he grabbed it and pulled me in for a big hug. That’s actually a moment I’ll probably never forget and this was 15 years ago now and I remember it like it was yesterday.”

His current inspirations:

“I wanted to make my kids proud, I wanted to make my wife proud, I wanted to make my parents proud, and I wanted to make Hunter proud because he took a shot on me. I’m not the typical WWE superstar. He hired me anyway and he saw something in me. And I want to deliver for him. I want to pay him back for that by delivering the way he thinks I can and I think I did.”

Check out Kevin Owen’s complete in-depth interview at TheWhig.com for a lot more, including thoughts on his upcoming match with John Cena at Elimination Chamber, times he thought he might not make it in the industry, and making his WWE RAW debut.

http://www.thewhig.com/2015/05/29/canadian-wrestlers-star-rising-in-wwe