Kevin Owens is a former Universal Champion (WWE)
Who was The Mountie Jacques Rougeau in WWE?
Jacques Rougeau was a WWF (now WWE) wrestler who found prominence in the 1990s playing the character of a Canadian Mountie
The character was that of a cattle-prod wielding member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He used the cattle-prod to shock and humiliate his beaten opponent at the end of fights.
The storyline entailed Jacques Rougeau going through actual training to wield authority after becoming a Mountie.
His greatest WWF achievement came in 1992 when he beat Bret Hart to win the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship.
He retired in October 1994 after winning in his highly promoted retirement match against ex-Quebecers teammate Pierre Ouellet.
WWE Superstar Kevin Owens was once in line to become a Canadian Mountie on NXT. That was, of course, before he debuted on WWE RAW to stun John Cena in May 2015.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on The Chris Van Vliet Show recently, NXT trainer and former WWE star Eugene (Nick Dinsmore) recalled a conversation with Kevin Owens on NXT.
Eugene revealed that WWE wanted Owens to be the new ‘Mountie’ character. Owens was also trained earlier in his career by Rougeau, who wanted him to continue his legacy.
However, Eugene remembers Owens breaking down into tears when he told him this news.
“Kevin Owens is sitting ringside because he’s just watching the class. I sit down next to him. He said the first time he ever wrestled was for Jacques Rougeau. So a couple of days go by, I come back and said that they’ve got a new character for you. They’re going to bring you in as the new Mountie.”
This is where Dinsmore says that Owens started crying, as The Prizefighter said to him, “You can’t let them do that.”
“He (Owens) was beginning to panic. Needless to say, it didn’t happen.”
The Prizefighter won the NXT title by beating Sami Zayn in February 2015. He made his debut on RAW 3 months later, as he responded to John Cena’s open challenge for the United States Championship.
Instead of a clean fight, Owens beat Cena up in front of a shocked audience. He proceeded to beat Cena at the Elimination Chamber in May in a non-title match.
This established KO as a prominent superstar on WWE, who has now gone on to win multiple belts. He is a one-time Universal Champion and has won the Intercontinental Belt two times.
In hindsight, it’s funny to imagine the now fan-favourite WWE superstar as a Canadian Mountie. Owens is scheduled to face Roman Reigns at TCL 2020 later this month for the WWE Universal Championship.
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