Jacques Rougeau Says He’s Proud of Kevin Owens, Discusses Son Getting WWE Tryout

– Jacques Rougeau, the former Mountie and Quebecers member, spoke with Main Event Radio following Kevin Owens’ WWE Universal Title win. Rougeau was Owens’ trainer. Some highlights are below:

On Owens’ Universal Championship victory: “I trained him for his first 5 years in the business. I’m not really that close to him today because we took different paths. From when he stepped foot in my wrestling school I knew I had come across something special. He was the type of guy who understood faster than the average. Some of my lessons for him were kind of boring. The average of the guys in my class were going at a certain speed and I had to respect that but Kevin was always ahead of the others. I knew he had something special, I really did. I’ve been organizing wrestling shows across Quebec for almost 20 years now. Kevin Owens, well actually Kevin Steen quickly became a star on my shows. He had a lot of charisma and was a great part of them. I knew he was going to become a big star. It didn’t happen easily. I want to give him the credit. He did it all on his own…I never helped him on the road, he went to Japan and a lot of credit goes to that guy. Looking at Kevin Steen was like looking at myself in the mirror when I was 16 years old. He’s been the Intercontinental Champion; he’s now the World [Universal] Champion. He is definitely the hottest thing Quebec has had in many, many years. It’s a wonderful day for Quebec right now and we are all celebrating. It’s a great thing and I’m very proud of him.”

On his sun Cedric getting a WWE tryout next month: “He’s going on the 29th of September for a tryout in Orlando. That came about 2 years ago at the Montreal Comic Con with my good friend Hulk Hogan. When Hulk met my son, his eyes were facing my son’s nose. He said Jesus Christ and he looked at me and said “are you sure you’re the father?” I said, yes I am. He weighs 315, he’s 6’7. Hulk contacted a couple of guys over there [in WWE] and we met with Triple H and Steve [William] Regal. We are all very excited. We’re aiming to have a chance at another Quebecer getting into WWE. For us, it is the 4th generation of the Rougeau family. Hulk Hogan has the same weakness for my son that Triple H has for Kevin Owens. Triple H is the boss of the WWE and he’s got a little weakness for Kevin; he likes him a lot. And I gotta tell you something, when he [Kevin] was in my school, I had a weakness for him too. He had this toughness that’s likeable about him. I see the relationship I had with him for 5 years, I see the same relationship with him and Triple H.”