Kevin Owens recently spoke with Sports Illustrated to promote Sunday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, where he will face Shane McMahon. Per the stipulation, Owens will quit WWE if he loses.
Owens really picked up his feud with Shane after a much-talked about promo on SmackDown several weeks ago, where he talked about how Shane gets too much TV time over other WWE Superstars who were more deserving, and how the fans and the locker room is tired of it. He was asked if the promo was something that he came up with.
“I actually cut that promo a week before to somebody in the locker room,” Owens answered. “And it got people talking enough that it ended up on TV the next week. It all came from gut instinct. I’ll always be a fan. I know what I like watching, and I think I have a pretty good finger on the pulse of the audience today, and it all came from that.”
Owens was also asked if he has to be cautious regarding his own promos on Shane because the McMahon Family owns the company. He said the McMahons are more than willing to take the punishment, and dish it out, but he’s never been told to watch what he says.
“If I’ve learned anything from being here for the past five years, it’s that the McMahons are more than willing to let you go at them as hard as you want and they’ll come back at you as hard as they can. Everything is pretty much fair game. I’ve never been told to be careful, I’ve never been told to watch what I say. It’s all for the purpose of creating as good a story as possible,” he said.
Owens and Shane previously did battle at the 2017 Hell In a Cell pay-per-view, which saw Owens defeat McMahon inside the Cell. Owens was asked what sticks out about that match, and what will make Sunday’s match stand out.
“This week’s SmackDown Live was in the same building [in Detroit] where Shane and I had the Hell in a Cell match, so it’s all coming full circle,” Owens said. “The dynamic is different than it was in 2017, but I also feel there is a lot more at stake now because of the stipulation. “If I can’t beat him, I have to quit. And the fact that we’re in Toronto for SummerSlam, and I have a feeling the crowd is going to be pretty wild, should make for a very interesting night.”