Kevin Owens Recalls Introducing Cody Rhodes To The Indie Scene After His WWE Departure

The upcoming Undisputed WWE Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens at Bash in Berlin has a lot of intrigue heading into it as Owens originally wasn't fussed on fighting a close friend of his, leading many, including Rhodes, to wonder whether Owens should even be given the match at all considering he originally turned it down. However, the history of Owens and Rhodes runs a lot deeper than their recent run-ins with The Bloodline and inadvertently acted as one of the dominos that fell in the creation of All Elite Wrestling.

During a recent interview with "SHAK Wrestling," Owens was asked about how he helped Rhodes find his footing on the independent scene when he originally left WWE in 2016, putting him contact with The Young Bucks, two of Owens' closest friends, and how all of that contributes to the larger narrative surrounding their upcoming title match.

"I really wanted him to have the best possible introduction to the independent scene because he had never been around, he had never done that," Owens said. "At the time he had already been in the WWE system for so long, and the independent scene is a whole different ball game from what WWE is. So I just guided him in the right direction and put him in touch with The Young Bucks knowing they would take care of him, and I knew they'd hit it off, and they did, I was right."

Owens noted that putting Rhodes contact with The Young Bucks would give him the right platform to show WWE what they were missing out on, and eventually got the flowers Rhodes already thought he deserved at the time.

Please credit "SHAK Wrestling" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.