WWE's Kevin Owens Details Unique Skill He Gained From Watching Wrestling

WWE star Kevin Owens has opened up about how pro wrestling — and iconic commentator Jim Ross — played a pivotal role in helping him master a key skill that's become essential to his wrestling career: speaking English.

Owens, who was born in Quebec, Canada, which is predominantly French speaking, recently revealed in an appearance on "Insight with Chris van Vliet" how watching WWE and particularly listening to Jim Ross' commentary helped him pick up the language quickly.

"I started watching wrestling when I was 11, so I kind of started picking it up. Then my dad would watch TV in English so I watched some TV shows with him, here and there. I remember Friends, I'd watch a lot with him. And then I think I'd say by the time I was maybe 14, I couldn't really speak English that well but I understood everything. I like to say Jim Ross basically taught me English," said Owens. 

Owens, who is regarded as one of the best talkers on the WWE roster, added that he became fluent in the language by the age of 17, a few years after he started training to become a wrestler. He said that he had a particularly strong French accent while speaking English, which is all but gone now. While further discussing how Ross played a key role in his learning of the language, he revealed that he thought one of the veteran commentator's famous terms, slobberknocker, was a commonly-used word.

"So I actually thought that slobber knocker was part of the English language. I thought it was a normal word, and I would use it in everyday life and it made no sense," he said.

Owens' long-time friend and fellow WWE star Sami Zayn has also previously talked about how Owens learnt the language, and is amazed that he doesn't have the French accent while speaking the English language. Owens revealed in the interview with van Vliet that he still speaks French with his parents, but converses in English with his wife and kids.