Kevin Owens Spoke With Cody Rhodes Ahead Of This Big WWE Match

On November 26, Kevin Owens took part in the first-ever WarGames match on a WWE main roster premium live event, teaming with Drew McIntyre and The Brawling Brutes to take on long-time rival Roman Reigns and the rest of The Bloodline at Survivor Series WarGames. Owens' team was ultimately unsuccessful in its attempt to hand Reigns his first PLE loss since the 2022 Royal Rumble; Jey Uso pinned Owens for the victory following a Helluva Kick from Sami Zayn into a top rope splash from Uso.

Despite being on the losing end of the match, the experience had special meaning to Owens. Appearing on "WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves," Owens revealed that he had spoken with Cody Rhodes before the match to get his blessing on paying tribute to Rhodes' father, the late "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes. Dusty was the innovator of the WarGames match, which was first seen in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1980s.

"I took the opportunity to wear Dusty's shirt and the red elbow pad as a tribute to him," Owens said. "I talked to Cody beforehand to make sure he was cool with it and everything. It's just always neat to be able to kind of tie back to history and give Dusty a little nod. I try to do that as much as I can because he was so influential on my career."

Owens commented on Dusty, who passed away in June 2015, leaving his mark on those around him. "There's a lot of little stories," Owens said. "Anybody that was around Dusty for any period of time has a lot of stories, and just how great he was, how funny he was, all this stuff, and that's the influence he leaves on you."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.