Kevin Owens Says He’s “Ashamed” That He Didn’t Enjoy His Universal Championship Run

WWE superstar Kevin Owens last held the Universal Championship trophy almost six years ago.

On the August 29, 2016, episode of WWE Raw, Owens defeated Triple H in a Fatal 4-Way match to win and claim the title of Universal Champion. Prior to losing the belt to Goldberg at the Fastlane 2017 pay-per-view, he had held the title for 188 days. Since then, The Prized Fighter hasn’t held a WWE world championship.

The Universal Championship run was supposed to be a career high point for Owens. However, Owens has said in the past that he didn’t much enjoy his reign as champion. The 38-year-old superstar claimed he’s “ashamed” over the fact that he didn’t value his time with the championship gold during a recent interview on After The Bell (h/t SEScoops).

I had this amazing run with Chris Jericho when I was the Universal Champion, and there were so many memorable, enjoyable moments that people still talk about today “added Owens. “I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t appreciate that as much as I should have. I now find enjoyment in it. When I watch the activities we engaged in together, they are so enjoyable so good. But in that moment, I wouldn’t take the time to appreciate what I was doing because I was worried. ‘Okay next week, what are we doing?'”

Even though they were playing heel characters on Raw, Chris Jericho and Owens frequently got the babyface treatment. However, The Prized Fighter betrayed the WWE icon during their “Festival of Friendship,” which signalled the start of Owens’ main event run’s demise.

Owens’ Universal title defence against Goldberg at Fastlane was lost as a result of Jericho’s distraction. The result was a match at WrestleMania 33 when Owens defeated Y2J. Jericho would later make a few more appearances with WWE in 2018 before joining AEW in 2019. This would be his final full-time stint with WWE.

Owens Should’ve Had Several World Title Reigns By Now

It’s simply puzzling why WWE hasn’t given Owens more major title runs since he was defeated by Goldberg for the Universal Championship in 2017. Owens is well-liked by the audience and possesses exceptional in-ring and mic skills. For some reason though, Vince McMahon and the WWE creative team never gave him the chance to expand on that initial world title run.