Who did Kevin Owens wrestle on his WWE debut?

Kevin Owens established a name for himself and already had a following before his time in WWE. Although he was successful in his first match with the company, he suffered a legitimate injury in the process.

In August 2014, it was announced that Kevin Steen was on his way to the developmental brand of WWE. Now known as Kevin Owens, he made his debut for the company in December at NXT Takeover: R Evolution in December of that same year against CJ Parker (aka Juice Robinson).

The end of the match saw him come out victorious but suffered a broken nose due to a palm strike. Six years after his debut, Kevin Owens recalled it was the moment that stole his heart and the reason they are now both very close friends.

This wasn't the only time The Prizefighter appeared during the show. During the main event, he joined Sami Zayn, who just won the NXT Championship and congratulated him. However, he attacked Zayn and solidified himself as a dominant heel by powerbombing his rival onto the apron.

Kevin Owens announced for a special WWE appearance

The former NXT Champion made his main roster debut in May 2015 to answer John Cena's United States Championship open challenge. He briefly returned to the developmental brand in 2019. However, it looks like he will return to the brand once more.

In a recent Twitter post, Owens revealed he will be on the upcoming NXT episode after a request from Shawn Michaels. He was asked to moderate the confrontation between Bron Breakker, Ilja Dragunov, and JD McDonagh ahead of their Triple Threat Match at Halloween Havoc.

"There's gonna be a triple threat for the NXT Championship on that show between Bron Breakker, the champion, Dargunov, whose first name I don't wanna try to say and mess up and the other guy, JD McSomething. Shawn Michaels, the Heart Break Kid, who's in-charge of NXT, he wants to have all three of those guys tonight in the ring together to air our their grievances going into the match. He doesn't want it to turn into pure chaos. So he asked me as a former NXT Champion to come and moderate the whole thing."

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