Kevin Owens recently offered a brutally honest reflection on his tag team title reign alongside Sami Zayn, acknowledging that while the run didn’t meet their own expectations, Zayn’s efforts helped keep it entertaining. Speaking on Cody Rhodes’ podcast, So What Do You Wanna Talk About?, Owens looked back on their championship run following their emotional main event victory over The Usos at WrestleMania 39.
“When we were Tag Team Champions, we had a bit of a sh-t run,” Owens admitted. “I remember before we won the titles, we kept saying we just hope we can live up to the Usos, what the Usos did, and we didn’t.”
He added that despite that, their role on Raw was still important: “Our role as Tag Team Champions at the time was closing out Raw, and it didn’t matter. Raw is a long show, three hours, make sure they’re awake by the end. And dude, we wrestled Judgment Day about 17 times in a row. We had them rocking every time. And 95 percent of that credit for that goes to Sami.”
Owens also touched on Zayn’s reputation for making frequent creative adjustments, often at the last minute, and shared a lighthearted story about how this process tends to frustrate one specific superstar backstage.
“No one hates that process more than Damian Priest. He will, oh my God, I’ve seen him lose it,” Owens said with a laugh. “And then we come back and they’re like, ‘It worked.’”
Despite their tag reign not living up to their initial hopes, Owens clearly maintains a deep admiration for Zayn’s creative energy and adaptability in keeping their segments alive and impactful.
