page_title: Kevin Owens
section_title: Main roster debut and Intercontinental Champion (2015–2016)
hierarchical_section_title: Kevin Owens / Professional wrestling career / WWE / Main roster debut and Intercontinental Champion (2015–2016)
caption_attribution_description: English: Kevin Owens in April 2016
context_page_description: Kevin Steen is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Kevin Owens.
  Steen began his career in 2000, at the age of 16. Prior to joining WWE in late 2014, from 2007, Steen wrestled under his birth name for Ring of Honor, where he held the ROH World Championship and ROH World Tag Team Championship. Steen also wrestled extensively on the independent circuit for 14 years, most notably in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he held the PWG World Championship a record three times, as well as the PWG World Tag Team Championship on three occasions.
  Steen also competed for International Wrestling Syndicate, where he held three times the IWS World Heavyweight Championship, All American Wrestling, where he held the AAW Heavyweight Championship; and Combat Zone Wrestling, where he held the CZW Iron Man Championship. He wrestled under the Kevin Owens name in WWE's developmental branch NXT, where he was a one-time NXT Champion, before debuting on the main roster in May 2015. He has since held the Universal Championship once, the Intercontinental Championship twice, and the United States Championship three times.
context_section_description: Owens made his unannounced main roster debut on the May 18 episode of Raw, responding to John Cena's United States Championship open challenge, but instead of competing in the match he attacked Cena and stomped on the United States title in a show of disrespect, setting up a non-title match between the two at Elimination Chamber on May 31, which Owens won cleanly by pinfall. A rematch between the two took place in June, at Money in the Bank, which Cena won, and after the match, Owens powerbombed Cena onto the ring apron. Owens later challenged Cena to a match for the United States Championship, which took place at Battleground, which Cena won by submission, thus ending their feud. After the loss to Cena, Owens entered a feud with Cesaro, defeating him in two matches—at SummerSlam and on an episode of Raw eight days later.
  On September 20 at Night of Champions, Owens defeated Ryback to win his first singles title on the main roster, the Intercontinental Championship. On October 3, Owens' first title defense came on the WWE Network special, Live from Madison Square Garden, where Owens defeated Chris Jericho. On October 25, at Hell in a Cell, Owens successfully defended the championship in a rematch against Ryback. Owens then took part in the tournament for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, in which he defeated Titus O'Neil and Neville, but lost to Dean Ambrose in the semifinals at Survivor Series. Owens then entered a feud with Ambrose, where he lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ambrose at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 13, ending his reign at 84 days. Going into 2016, Owens unsuccessfully faced Ambrose for the championship on several occasions. On January 24, Owens entered the 2016 Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but was unsuccessful after being eliminated by Sami Zayn.
  The following night on Raw, Owens entered a feud with Dolph Ziggler, with the two trading victories over each other on back to back episodes of Raw. On the February 15 episode of Raw, Owens won the Intercontinental Championship for a second time, defeating former champion Dean Ambrose, Stardust, Tyler Breeze and Ziggler in a fatal five-way match. At Fastlane, Owens successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Ziggler. At WrestleMania 32, Owens lost the title against Zack Ryder in a seven-way ladder match. He resumed the feud with longtime rival Sami Zayn after he attacked him on Raw, which led to a match at Payback, where Owens defeated Zayn. At Extreme Rules, Owens faced Zayn, Cesaro and Miz in a fatal four-way match for the Intercontinental Championship, but failed to regain the title when Miz pinned Cesaro. The following night on Raw, Owens defeated AJ Styles to qualify for the 2016 Money in the Bank ladder match, but he failed to win the match.
caption: Owens in April 2016
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