KO is OK with another appearance in the Events Center

RIO RANCHO – WWE superstar Kevin Owens was in the ring at the Rio Rancho Events Center last April, but when he’s here again Jan. 14, he’ll do the same thing he does before every WWE event.

And this is a guy, mind you, who has paid his dues since he decided being a pro wrestler would be his goal, while watching WrestleMania 11 in 1995, and admiring Steve “Stone Cold” Austin.

Owens said he’ll walk into the Events Center, “a few minutes before the doors open, when the building’s empty, and I just kinda look at the ring and look at the surrounding arena and the empty seats.

“It always takes me back to when I was a kid and I would go to WWE events, and I would walk in before the show started and find my seat,” he explained. “I always remember that feel

ing of walking in and seeing the ring in the middle of the arena, and I like to picture kids doing that in a few minutes when the doors open. … It’s just so incredibly impressive, but that kind of stuff can shape a child’s future almost. It might sound corny, but I speak out of experience: That happened for me.

“So I always feel there’s a big sense of responsibility: I’m about to go put on a show that could literally stay with somebody for the rest of their life, and even if that’s not the case, I could be putting on a show for someone who could be going through some hard times in life and needs relief … (and) for people who paid money to see the show I use that as motivation, always make sure I bring my best and give it my all.”

Real tough guy, eh?

He even relishes the drives from the Sunport to the hotel to the Events Center: “It’s got a very unique feel; the desert background and that stuff. Rio Rancho and New Mexico stands out from all the places I go in the U.S. … I love going to Utah, Montana, Colorado, and places like that. It does stand out, among others, for sure.”

“New Mexico, it just stands out because of the unique weather and landscape. I have a friend that lives in New Mexico, as well,” Owens said. “I remember talking with him before I went to Rio Rancho (last April), just about New Mexico itself – he had just moved there and told me how much he enjoys living there.”

Per his website, Owens is “an outspoken, Quebec-born brawler who bolts around the ring with equal parts intensity and bad intentions.”

If you’ve seen him on a WWE telecast, you can’t disagree. “KO,” as he’s known, loves to enter the ring and sit atop a turnbuckle, awaiting his foe, or a pair of foes, if he’s teamed with Sami Zayn.

And, if you haven’t seen him (a photo is included with this feature), can you imagine how hard it is for him to walk into a big-box store or attend a guitar recital or ballet performance by his daughter and not be recognized?

He doesn’t mind knowing he has fans, and at home events, he’s merely known as his kids’ dad and not bothered.

On his own time, he said in a recent telephone interview with the Observer, “I have a few cars I like to work on and drive around; I like going to concerts quite a bit – I’ve seen ‘Guns & Roses’ a bunch of times this year, when I can. … And I spend time with my family. When I’m not wrestling, that’s pretty much it.”

He remembers what begat his dream to be a pro wrestler.

“My dad rented a VSHS tape of WrestleMania 11, and by the end of that tape I was, like, ‘Oh, this is what I’m going to do for a living.’ Until then, I didn’t really have a goal, I didn’t have a dream, I was just a kid.

‘Whenever I’d play hockey, I’d think, ‘Oh., maybe I could play hockey for a living,’ but I didn’t love it enough. Then I saw ‘Jurassic Park,’ and though I could be a (paleontologist), dig up dinosaur bones; I would dig up my backyard, looking for bones for a while,” he recalled. “But when I found wrestling and WWE, that was it for me – I was going to be a wrestler one way or another.”

Back then, he saw, there was no clear blueprint for the path to WWE; his mother found a wrestling school nearby and at the age of 14.

“I did that, and then I started wrestling on small local shows here and there … it took me 15 years before I got any kind of contact with WWE, so that’s a long time,” he said. “It all worked out, thankfully.”

He’s been in rings around the world, with crowds ranging from dozens to thousands, paying his dues – “a great way to put it,” Owens said.

When he came to WWE, and then known as Kevin Steen, in 2014, the big guy had a feud of sorts with Zayn, so it was probably surprising to WWE fans when the two made up and teamed up recently. Owens is a regular on Fridays’ two-hour Smackdown telecast on Fox.

At WrestleMania 39 this past April, following a longstanding rivalry with “The Bloodline,” Owens main-evented WrestleMania for the second straight year with Zayn as they ended the 622-day reign of The Usos and captured the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles in the “Greatest Tag Team Title Match in History.”

Yes, it sounds like a lot of hype, but that’s what you get with WWE – and not many were disappointed with any losses suffered by The Bloodline, which includes an even bigger superstar, Roman Reigns, the “Head of the Table” and a former football player at Georgia Tech.

Lauded by The Rock and possessing what WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin described as a “hell of an arsenal,” Owens has earned many accolades in North America and abroad.

Owens’ career highlight, he said, came when he lured WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin out of retirement for a No Holds Barred Match at a WrestleMania.

“I was the biggest vocal Steve Austin fan for his entire career in WWE,” he said, also loving WWE events in Montreal, Quebec and Toronto.

‘Anytime I’m in Canada, it’s a treat,” he said. “(But) there are so many special arenas all over the U.S., all over the world … we’re always all over the world.”

How can you not like and appreciate what this guy does for the industry?

“I actually spent most of my career as what you’d call a bad guy,” he said, “but I think it’s just a difference of opinion. People sometimes disagree with me, and things happen. I always think I’m a good guy, and now the fans seem to agree with me – they seem to like me, and I enjoy getting cheers, and I’m not going to complain about that.”

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Experience an “American Nightmare” at Events Center next month

They’re (coming) back!

WWE superstars, whose legion of fans of all ages packed the Rio Rancho Events Center last April, battle here in the ring again the evening of Jan. 14.

It’s a great lineup, although the card is subject to change: Kevin “KO” Owens

, Cody “The American Nightmare” Rhodes, Seth “Freakin’” Rollins, Bobby “The Almighty” Lashley, Becky “The Man” Lynch (Rollins’ wife), L.A. Knight (“Yeah!”), “the Ring General” Gunther, Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley were announced as veterans of “Monday Night Raw” and “Friday Night Smackdown.”

Tickets went on sale in early November, starting at $20. They’re available at ticketmaster.com.