As 'Saturday Night's Main Event' looms, WWE star Kevin Owens has all the tools and none of the distractions

Kevin Owens can’t stand Cody Rhodes.

A man known for his short temper and willingness to act out as a result, Owens has had a relatively slow burn when it comes to making sure Rhodes knows how he feels. As he prepares to face Rhodes for the WWE Championship at the recently revived "Saturday Night’s Main Event," there’s a clarity Owens has reached at this point in his career that seems to be guiding his actions: He’s not here for the pageantry, the peacocking, or the pomp and circumstance. He wants to win without distraction, succeed without interruption, and to make sure that anything he deems as disingenuous is done away with.

In his estimation, Rhodes has gone from conquering hero to arrogant ass in record time. Part of the issue is that Owens feels he’s been in that same position and needed someone to bring him down as well. “Who calls themselves QB1?” Owens asks, questioning Cody’s self-described status as WWE Champion. “Who gets the letters ‘QB’ stitched on their own jacket? There's nobody going around calling Cody Rhodes the quarterback. He's calling himself that. I just find that so insane.

"He's the one who left in 2016 because he wasn't happy. He didn't like the opportunities, he didn't like the way he was portrayed, all that stuff. And he came back. He was always obsessed with being the top guy, being the quarterback, whatever you want to call it. I've been there. I was there, obsessed in that way and all that stuff. I realized it wasn't very healthy, and eventually my point of view changed. But I don't know. There's just a limit to how much arrogance I could stand.”

It’s not that Owens is on cruise control. It's just, now he’s aware of when to hit the gas and when to slam on the brakes. Admittedly, this wasn’t always his strong suit. Owens tore his way through promotions, titles and friends all along the independent scene, earning an impossible amount of championships from 2003 to 2014. He’s perhaps best known for his work in Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he became world champion four times between the two promotions. But in a role reversal, his frustrations and desire to be the top act, specifically in Ring of Honor, led to a blood feud between himself and best friend/tag team partner, Sami Zayn. The two feuded across the independents, in NXT, and throughout their time on WWE’s main roster. But the constant was that desire for more, that need to feel like he was the very best, and stopping at absolutely nothing to prove that point.

Owens' balls-to-the-wall, leave-no-bone-unbroken style was a hit on the indies, and there was fear that he’d be asked in WWE to severely tone down the things that made him so good. That proved to be untrue, as he still superkicks, piledrives and powerbombs with the same intensity that got eyes on him in the first place. “Something I'll always remember, [former NXT General Manager] William Regal coming to a PWG show, watching the show, and going, ‘There's a lot of stuff that I see that I would do differently or that I wouldn't do like that necessarily, but the audience loves it,’" Owens says.

"So he wasn't knocking it. He was just saying, 'Obviously, everyone that paid for the ticket is loving it.' I think that's a positive way of influencing the future generation.”

Regal’s optimism proved correct. Owens became NXT Champion, a multiple-time United States and Intercontinental Champion, and teamed with Zayn to defeat the Usos for the Undisputed Tag Team Titles at "WrestleMania 39." But the ultimate prize is WWE's Universal Championship, which through lineage is now part of the WWE Championship timeline. He’s won it once, and has had multiple chances to reach that status again, but it’s always seemed to be thwarted by a team or faction, most recently Roman Reigns and The Bloodline. But "Saturday Night’s Main Event" presents Owens the opportunity to once again become champion without all of the outside noise affecting him.

Rhodes doesn’t have a family backing him. It’s simply who’s the better man, and who can prove it in the moment.

“Now when I go to work, I'm more concerned about delivering what's being asked of me," Owens says, "as opposed to 2015, 2016, 2017. I was really obsessed with, yes, delivering, but I wanted to deliver because I wanted to get more opportunities, and I wanted to get higher, and I wanted to get bigger, and I wanted to be the biggest star I could be and be in the top spot. It's changed in the sense that I've gotten to do so much. Now I'm really just happy being on the show and giving people memorable times and good television.

"I'm still hungry, though. I'd still love to have another run as champion. It's been a while, and I'd love to be in that spot and see how I can deliver in that spot.”

For decades, WWE operated off the idea that you have your very top stars, and everyone can else can fill in the pieces. The Attitude Era, with it’s litany of title changes and the amount of people involved in larger programs, eventually gave way to a generation of talents that were called on to do anything and everything. The Miz could be WWE Champion, then venture off to the tag team scene. Natayla could always serve as a top contender for a women’s title, then work to help a new talent find their sea legs. And Kevin Owens — prizefighter in name, attitude and intention — could step away from his personal pursuits and be one half of WWE’s most beloved bromance.

At every turn, every opportunity, Owens put his best foot forward and elevated the material given to him. In his estimation, it’s not a unique talent but what everyone should strive for, as long as it’s being done to elevate themselves and the company. “Everyone's goal in wrestling … should be [to be] as versatile as possible, because that obviously opens up a lot of doors. Although at times I would say it might even play against you, to be honest, because of the nature of this industry. However, it's something you want. You want to be able to do a little bit of everything. You want to be versatile and you want to be able to meet expectations.

"I want to be as useful as I can be to the show I'm on. I want to contribute as much as I can. And selfishly, I want to feel fulfilled and I want to feel like I'm doing something good. I want to be part of good stuff just for my own personal enjoyment."

As we approach Saturday night, Owens is at the peak of his powers and the apex of his influence.

And he’s not alone.

His era of Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla talents are at the forefront of modern professional wrestling. Bryan Danielson seemingly capped off one of the most amazing careers in recent memory by losing the AEW World Championship in October. The Young Bucks’ influence led to the very creation of AEW. Sami Zayn has been the emotional anchor in the industry’s ongoing top story, and the Motor City Machine Guns have elevated WWE’s loaded tag team division. So as Owens, the biggest solo talent of that group outside of Danielson and AJ Styles, surveys their legacy and success, to him the talent was always there; it’s just always been about the timing to have all that talent on top at once.

"I'm not surprised at any of the guys' success. Even though I will say the Machine Guns joining WWE recently was really surreal," Owens says, "because it's almost like we all made it.

"Many of us from that time all got to the mainstream wrestling level or whatever, but the Guns, the Machine Guns, they had done TNA, but they never got to WWE. I guess you assume after a while, it's not going to happen. Not because they weren't good enough. Obviously they've always been top talent in the wrestling world. But I don't know, for some reason, sometimes it's not in the cards or timing, stuff like that. For them to finally end up here, it was pretty crazy.

"And yet when I see them at 'SmackDown,' it's like, oh yeah, of course those guys are here. It's like they've always been here because they probably should have always been here."

Owens could very well walk out of The Nassau Coliseum on Saturday night as WWE Champion. He could win the Royal Rumble then win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania. He could challenge Steve Austin to a WrestleMania main event rematch. There’s no ceiling on Owens, because he’s proven time and time again that given a chance, he’d just punch a hole in the damn ring. He’s absolutely capable of filling any role at any time and wears that as a badge of honor.

What Owens wants most now though, whether it’s matched with a title or not, is more time. More time to wrestle, more time to grow, and more time to experience the thing that’s brought so much joy to him, his family and his peers. “I've never had a singles match with Rey Mysterio,” Owens says, speaking on the only active wrestler whose shirts he’ll wear unironically. “I can't imagine my career ending without getting to do that. … The Young Bucks are guys that I'd love to wrestle again. PAC is somebody I'd love to wrestle again. Finn Bálor, I haven't wrestled Finn in a long time and I love wrestling Finn Bálor. I'd love to have the chance to wrestle Finn Bálor at WrestleMania.

"My main goal for the rest of my career is to have the best time I can and give the fans the best memories possible to look back on when I'm done. That's really what drives my career and drives my motivation for the rest of my career. I've really accomplished way more than I ever thought I would.”

What he’s accomplished, is being accomplished.

Owens is one of wrestling’s ultimate utility players, and he’s always one play away from a new accolade.