Chase Owens Chase Owens is an American professional wrestler who works under the ring name Chase Owens . Owens is mainly an independent wrestler and has worked for promotions including National Wrestling Alliance Smoky Mountain ( NWA Smoky Mountain . Formerly known as Championship Wrestling Alliance ) , Pro - Wrestling Federation ( PWF ) and Mid - Atlantic Championship Wrestling ( MACW ) . Early life . Owens states he has been wrestling since the age of three . His father is a high school wrestling coach , which suggests a great deal of amateur wrestling involvement for the then - 16 year old . At that same age , Owens met Mikey Duger , who helped Owens on the path of pursuing his big dream of professional wrestling . Owens credits much of his knowledge of pro wrestling to his greatest mentor Ricky Morton who trained him . Professional wrestling career . National Wrestling Alliance ( 2007 – present ) . Owens made his debut at CWA ' s " Snowed the F Out " , where he was defeated by Tony Givens . Owens participated in the 2007 Best of the Best tournament , but he was defeated in the first round by The Jin . On November 14 , 2008 , Owens had his first title match , but was defeated by the AWA World Heavyweight Champion Tony Givens . Owens spent the following years in various NWA territories . He participated in the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Best of the Best tournament , but was unsuccessful . On February 26 , 2011 , Owens defeated Sigmon to win his first title , the NWA Mid - Atlantic Junior Heavyweight Championship . The following month , he defeated Jason Kincaid in a ladder match to win the NWA Mountain Empire Championship . On April 1 , Owens won the Smokey Cup tournament , and later competed in the Chikara Young Lions Cup IX , but he was defeated by Jakob Hammermeier . On October 7 , Owens participated in a tournament for the vacant NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship , but was defeated in the final by Kevin Douglas . On October 13 , 2012 , Owens won a tournament for the vacant NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship . Owens retained the title for 301 days until he lost it to Jason Kincaid . Two months later , Owens regained the title . On January 4 , 2014 , Owens lost the title to Ricky Morton , but won it back from Morton two months later . May 9 , 2015 , Owens battled in the co - main event against the IWGP Heavyweight Champion A . J . Styles at NWA Smokey Mountain ' s Collision Course 10 . Owens was defeated via pinfall . WWE ( 2012 ) . On the May 25 , 2012 episode of WWE SmackDown , Owens competed in a handicapped match along with Ricky Reyes on the losing end of a two - man team versus Ryback . Owens worked under the ring name Kevin Bendl . New Japan Pro Wrestling ( 2014 – present ) . On October 13 , Owens made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling ( NJPW ) at King of Pro - Wrestling , successfully defending the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship against Bushi . After the match , Owens challenged Jushin Thunder Liger . On November 8 at Power Struggle , Owens lost the title to Liger . Owens returned to NJPW on February 11 , 2015 , at The New Beginning in Osaka , where he and Rob Conway defeated Liger and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in a tag team match . Three days later at The New Beginning in Sendai , Owens unsuccessfully challenged Liger for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship . Owens returned to NJPW in May to take part in the 2015 Best of the Super Juniors tournament . He finished the tournament with a record of four wins and three losses , failing to advance to the finals .