Kevin Owens Says Vince McMahon Originally Nixed His Doing Stunner Despite Steve Austin’s Approval

Kevin Owens says his request to use the stunner was originally shut down despite Steve Austin giving it the thumbs up. Owens began using the stunner in 2019, and he revealed in his appearance on Insight With Chris Van Vliet that Austin gave his blessing to use it, but then Vince McMahon said no.

“So anyway, then I asked [Austin] I want to do the Stone Cold Stunner as my finisher, and I just want to make sure you’re okay with it, and he said, ‘Yeah, I actually can’t believe nobody’s asked me already yet. So yeah, please go ahead,'” Owens recalled (courtesy of Fightful). “So I was really pumped. Then I went to Vince and asked him if I could, and he said, ‘No, you can’t do that.’ Okay.”

He continued, “Then years went by and I got hurt. I went away for a bit and I came back as a babyface. My first match back was a tag team match against Erik Rowan and Daniel Bryan, who was doing the protecting the earth, and I had to go over. I had to beat Bryan that night. They’re like, Well, what do you want to do? Stone Cold Stunner? And they said, okay, all right. And that was it. From then on became my finish.”

Owens started using the move to replace the pop-up powerbomb as his finishing maneuver. He is currently out of action due to a neck injury that forced him out of his planned match with Randy Orton at WrestleMania 41.