Kevin Owens recently detailed the way he didn’t want to be like Dolph Ziggler when he came to WWE.
Raw Superstar Kevin Owens recently appeared on WWE After the Bell with Corey Graves to talk about a variety of topics, including his match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 38 and a potential matchup against actor Matthew McConaughey.
The former Universal Champion also discussed his respect for fellow Raw star Dolph Ziggler, and that he understands why the Dirty Dawg has been frustrated at points in his career. Owens said that he never wanted to be frustrated like that when he arrived in WWE.
“He’s a guy I respect a ton, and I don’t think I’ve ever told him this but he’s one of the guys that I would look at and be like, ‘I don’t want to be like Dolph. In the sense that he’s so good and I would see him so frustrated because he’s so good and he feels like he should be doing more, and he was right. I remember thinking, man, I don’t want to be like that. This was when I was first [in WWE] in 2014-15, I was like, I don’t want to be like that, I want to come to work and I don’t want to be frustrated all the time.”
Kevin Owens continued, saying that anyone with passion for their work is susceptible to that level of dissatisfaction because they should always be hungry and want more in their career.
“But guess what, when you’re passionate and hungry and know you’re good, which is what he is, it’s inevitable. It’s going to happen to everybody. If you don’t go through that at one point, I’m not going to say you’re in the wrong business because that’s cliche and I don’t believe that, maybe you just have a different perspective, but the hunger to do more and to be able to contribute to the show as much as you think you should or could, that’s normal.
“But it’s important to eventually find that perspective to enjoy it because that’s my thing. I was like, man, Dolph never really seems to enjoy himself. And then that shifted, I’ve seen him now completely differently.”
Owens revealed that, despite the two not being close friends, he texted Ziggler when he first appeared in NXT because he noticed a change in his attitude.
“When he went to do that NXT stuff, I remember I watched the first night that he cut that promo in NXT and I texted him. He and I don’t really text, we’re not friends that way. But I texted him to say that promo was unbelievable. It was a Dolph that I hadn’t seen in years. He was like, ‘yeah, it was really refreshing,’ he said the same but even before that, his whole attitude and energy shifted. He seems to be enjoying himself at work a ton more.”
Dolph Ziggler first made a surprise appearance on the February 8th episode of NXT 2.0 where he confronted NXT Champion Bron Breakker. Ziggler defeated Breakker for the NXT Championship on the March 8th episode, and remained champion until losing the title back to the second generation superstar on the Raw after WrestleMania.
h/t WrestlingInc