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It could almost get lost in the shuffle of another great NXT live event card, and the presumed payoff of one of, if not the, feuds of the year in Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn.
It's also something that doesn't quite seem real to me, no matter how many pictures of him standing next to Triple H we're treated to.
Tonight, at NXT Takeover R Evolution, Kevin Steen will debut in WWE.
For reasons ranging from his stating that he wouldn't sign with WWE because he wouldn't want to be away from his family, to doubting that Vince McMahon would ever sign him because of his physique and reputation as a non-PG performer, Steen was one of my independent favorites that I just figured I'd never see on a Monday night.
And he still might not make it Raw, but he is joining the cast of the best show WWE produces tonight. That should be an amazing treat, and is probably the best possible showcase for him in terms of being able to interact with a smaller crowd and work with a lot of guys with whom he's comfortable.
I've spent the last hour or so going down a YouTube wormhole looking for the best clips of things to present to those who haven't followed him across Ring of Honor, CZW and PWG the last eight or so years. When it gets down to it, there's both no bad clips, nor is there one perfect clip that can encapsulate why Kevin Steen is one of my favorite pro wrestlers.
To do that, I'd have to invent a time machine to send everyone back to 2009 to watch all of his program with El Generico unfold over three years.
That's the hype video for the end of the FIRST ACT of their program! I still get chills when Generico screams "STEEN! NOW!" Say, that guy sure does remind me of someone...
He won't be called Steen anymore, he may not have his full moveset, his entrance theme probably won't be this good, and he definitely won't be able to tell fans to go home and jerk off to pictures of him so that people can hear the man they paid to see talk.
But, starting tonight, he will be on WWE television for the foreseeable future. With that comes an amazing array of potential feuds and storylines, great matches, killer promos and unforgettable moments.
Thanks for the memories, Kevin Steen.
FIGHT, OWENS, FIGHT