He Got There First
Angry didn't even begin to describe the way Kevin Owens was feeling when he heard Sami Zayn's name come off the board before his. He was livid, he was furious, he was tempted to destroy everything in the locker room and then go out to the stage with a mic and express just how big a mistake Stephanie and Shane made and how much both would regret it.
He wasn't the first pick, he wasn't the second, or the third or the fourth or the fifth. He wasn't even top seven, but Sami was. For some reason which he could not fathom in the slightest, Sami Zayn was drafted before him, and not just one round before him either. Try three, and that only made matters worse.
Sure, Jericho and Sasha Banks and even Rusev going before him bothered Kevin Owens to no end. He was better than them. He was better than all of them. But he didn't want to completely destroy them the way he did his former best friend.
Sami Zayn. Of all the people to get drafted before him, it just had to be Sami Zayn.
The man just had to be first at everything when it came to the two of them, something that the self-proclaimed prizefighter had never quite gotten over.
Sami was first to get signed by NXT. He was first to win the championship. He was first to make his main roster debut and while Kevin was first to have a PPV debut and first to win a WWE title, it only happened because he needed to take matters into his own hands. Otherwise, the debut he enjoyed, the one he left WWE officials with no other choice to make, would have been Sami's. All of his success to that point, defeating John Cena clean in his first match, winning the Intercontinental title, being the only guy to ever, EVER be on every PPV card in his first year, it all would have belonged to the no-talent hack he used to call his best friend.
Given everything they had been through ever since Kevin himself made his NXT debut, all of their wars across developmental and again on the main roster, he found it hard to believe there was even a time when the two were closer than brothers. A time when he happily asked Sami to stand by his side as his best man during his wedding or when he could think of no better man to be a godfather to his son. A time even before that, when two teenagers from Quebec met at an independent house show and then basically followed each other from CZW to PWG to ROH.
Because now, he wanted nothing to do with him. Now, he wanted to punish him, to take out his own aggressions of constantly being overlooked and slighted on a guy who really wasn't even to blame. WWE was to blame for not seeing his potential two years sooner than they saw Sami's, for not seeing his value seven picks sooner than they saw Sami's. But attacking the boss would get him nowhere so Sami was a more than adequate scapegoat.
The two had found their careers linked almost from the beginning. And the goal was always the same: to get to the WWE. That goal became a joint one. They were best friends after all, so this was a dream they wanted to accomplish together. But Sami had other plans. He got there first and as much as Kevin wanted to be happy for him and in some ways was personally, professional jealousy seethed through his veins each and every time he saw Sami fighting on NXT, each and every time he heard the fans chanting his name when they should have been cheering for Kevin.
It took two years for him to finally join Sami, to get to the place where he knew he belonged, but when he did he brought all of that anger and jealousy and feelings of being disrespected with him. And when Kevin found out that him coming to NXT was the sign that Sami was close to that main roster promotion, something inside of him broke so to counter that, he broke Sami, making sure his injury would open up that call-up to someone else, to Kevin himself.
This draft though, it just fueled that fire, brought back all of that professional jealousy and annoying voices of people saying Sami was better than him. It fueled every bone in Kevin's body telling him to end it once and for all at Battleground. Sure, they ended up on the same brand, another slap in the face and huge mistake as far as he was concerned, but that wouldn't mean anything once Sami was crippled and never able to wrestle again. It was a job Kevin wished he had finished that day when he powerbombed him square into the ring apron the night of his own NXT debut, a job he would finish no matter what on Sunday.
Seven picks separated the two of them, seven. In no world was Kevin Owens seven spots worse than Sami Zayn. In no world was he 12 spots worse than Roman Reigns either. Hell Dean Ambrose went second overall, a spot that he believed rightfully should have been his if not first. But in this moment, Roman and Dean weren't the enemy, Sami was.
It was as if the two were always in this push and pull, this give and take. Of course Sami never saw it that way because he was always the one being pushed, always the one doing the taking. He never needed to see it as a rivalry because he was always on top. But Kevin knew that Sami didn't deserve the opportunities he was getting, that he didn't deserve the praise. Those were things that should have been Kevin's, things that in the future he would be damn sure they would be.
He just needed to get Sami out of the picture first.
He'd make Sami pay once and for all for what everyone saw in him, what they apparently never saw in Kevin. Maybe it was the look. That was the only thing Sami had. He took his stupid mask off and he was just this charismatic bubble of energy that everybody wanted to cheer for and shout "Ole!" But Kevin, he was better in the ring, he was better on the mic. He deserved to be in NXT first and in WWE too. Just because no one else seemed to think so didn't change the facts. No draft position would change them either.
Because no matter what, Kevin Owens had confidence in himself. He didn't just say he was the best because it was a fun thing to say. He said it because he believed it, every damn time he stepped out into that ring, every time his lips touched the microphone. No one could touch him and now that he was more focused, more determined than ever to make Raw the "Kevin Owens show," no one would.
"He'll wish he never went first," Kevin whispered venomously under his breath as he stared at Sami's picture on the TV screen, his hands forming into two tight fists. "I should have gone first. I should have always been first."