Former Universal Champion Kevin Owens was feuding with Shane McMahon in 2017. Ahead of his match with the son of then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon at Hell in a Cell, KO was confronted in the ring by the billionaire.
Vince repeatedly insulted Owens, and when the heel asked if he had his boss' permission to beat a McMahon senseless without fear of repercussions, he was given the green light. However, as they shook hands, Owens delivered a stiff headbutt to Vince and busted him open the hard way.
It was a shocking moment (and one Vince probably shouldn't have been part of, given his history of concussions), and Owens followed up the headbutt with a superkick and a frog splash, leaving the elderly McMahon a bloody mess in the middle of the ring.
Talking to Chris Van Vliet, the Prizefighter reflected on the exchange, his confrontation with Stephanie McMahon on his way to the back, and more.
"He just talked all kinds of sh*t. He's shaking my hand and just saying, I don't remember what he said, but he was really trying to provoke me because he wanted to make sure I was going to lay in that headbutt. Little did he know I was already planning on laying it in because I had worked for him for two years at that point, I wasn't going to miss that chance. So I did and yeah, it was a pretty insane moment. When he came up with the blood and everything I was like, Whoa, here we go."
"But my favorite part of that whole thing was after, it's a moment that was only seen. I don't think it was on TV, maybe only caught by digital as everybody's tending to Vince. I'm walking in the back and I turn around to look at the ring. I'm just looking at the ring, and I hear kind of like a rumble in the crowd. I go to turn, and as I turn Stephanie's right there in my face. She looked at me. She looks furious. She just looks at me and goes, 'Get the f*ck to the back!' And I go, okay, and I turn around."
"Look, I really like Stephanie a lot. She's been great, just been so supportive of not just me, but everybody. When Hunter was running NXT, and we all got there at the same time, my crop of NXT guys me, Sami, Finn, Bayley, Becky, Charlotte… Stephanie would be at the NXT shows quite a bit and she was just always so supportive and so just proud of us. And yeah, it was great."
"It's like that whole generation of NXT was so special, not just because of the talent there, but the support we had from all the trainers to Dusty, Hunter and Stephanie, they really felt like we were to a degree kind of their kids, and they were trying to get us out into the world. That was really special to be around that kind of energy."
You can watch the full interview with Owens in the player below.