Steven Owens (born March 7, 1990), better known by his ring nameChase Owens,[a] is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is signed toNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member ofHouse of Torture.[2] Owens is a three-timeIWGP Tag Team Champion, having won the belts twice withKenta and once withBad Luck Fale. He has also won the provisionalKOPW trophy once. For much of his tenure in NJPW, Owens has been a member ofBullet Club, but was also briefly affiliated with the stable's sub-groups the War Dogs andThe Elite.
Owens made his debut for Championship Wrestling Alliance (CWA) on February 17, 2007, at the age of 16, where he was defeated by Tony Givens.[5] Owens participated in the 2007 CWA Best of the Best tournament, but he was defeated in the first round by The Jin.[6] On November 14, 2008, Owens competed in his first title match, but was defeated by the defending AWA World Heavyweight Champion Tony Givens.[7] He participated in the 2009 and 2010 editions of the CWA Best of the Best tournament, but was unsuccessful, with Robbie Cassidy winning in 2009 and Alyx Winters winning in 2010, respectively.[8][9]
Owens lying across the top rope prior to a match in 2014
On February 26, 2011, Owens defeated Sigmon to win his first title, the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) Junior Heavyweight Championship.[10] The following month, he defeatedJason Kincaid in aladder match to win the NWA Mountain Empire Championship.[11] On April 1, Owens participated in the 2011 Smoky Mountain Cup tournament. He won the tournament by defeating Alyx Winters, Chance Prophet, Jason Kincaid, Jeff Connelly, and Menace in the finals.[12] On August 27, Owens competed in theChikara Young Lions Cup IX tournament, but he was defeated by Jakob Hammermeier in a first-round four-way elimination match that also includedGregory Iron andObariyon.[13] On October 7, Owens participated in a tournament for the vacantNWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. He defeated Steve Walters in the first round,Scorpio Sky in the second round, but was defeated in the finals by Kevin Douglas.[14]
In July 2014, Owens made his debut for Canadian Wrestling's Elite (CWE). He defended the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship on each day of the tour between July 17–27.[15] On April 24, 2015, Owens returned to the promotion and was defeated by Jason Kincaid in the first round of the 2015 Elite 8 tournament. Two years later, Owens would win the 2017 Elite 8 tournament, defeatingKaito Kiyomiya in his first round match, Mentallo in the second round, and Shane Sabre in the finals.[16]
On February 11, 2017, Owens defeated Jason Kincaid to win the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship, ending Kincaid's historic reign of 1,951 days.[17] The championship was retired on August 19.
On June 16, 2018, Chase defeated his trainer and mentorRicky Morton on a Battle On The Border (BOTB) show.[18] 6 months later he would win their Heavyweight Championship from Hooks in a Steel Cage match, before losing it to Brandon Xavier the next night.[19]
In 2019, Chase started wrestling less dates[20] for independent promotions as he signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling full-time.[21] In 2020, he returned to MACW for the first time in 4 years, in a losing effort againstBilly Gunn on 18 January.[22]
On the May 25, 2012, episode ofSmackDown, Owens under the name Kevin Bendl teamed withBrian Edwards in his only WWE appearance in a handicap match againstRyback. The duo would lose the match.[23]
On October 23, 2015, Owens joinedBullet Club.[30] The following day, Owens and new stablemateKenny Omega entered the2015 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, but were eliminated in their first round match byRoppongi Vice (Beretta andRocky Romero).[31] In May 2016, Owens appeared in NJPW as a late replacement for an injuredNick Jackson in the2016 Best of the Super Juniors tournament.[32] He finished second to last in his block with a record of three wins and four losses.[33] At the end of the year, Owens took part in the2016 World Tag League, teaming with Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega. The two finished second to last in their block with a record of three wins and four losses.[34] Around this time, Owens was quietly promoted to the promotion's heavyweight division.[35][36]
Owens participated in the2017 World Tag League, teaming withBad Luck Fale, the duo finished with a record of three wins and four losses, failing to advance form their block.[37] On April 1, 2018, atSakura Genesis, Owens teamed withYujiro Takahashi to unsuccessfully challenge theYoung Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson).[38] At theG1 Special in San Francisco show, Owens teamed with his Bullet Club stablemates to defeat the team ofChaos, later that night he sided with The Elite after being attacked by the Guerrillas Of Destiny andHaku.[39] Chase would spend the rest of the year sided with the 'Elite' group, suffering many pinfall losses.[40][41]
At January 2019, Owens along with Yujiro Takahashi rejoined the Bullet Club at NJPW New Year Dash!!. He announced that he had signed a contract with New Japan, making it the first time he was full-time with the company.[42][21] He would start this year off well, achieving many pinfall victories, albeit over weaker opposition. In March 2019, Owens entered theNew Japan Cup, defeating theIWGP United States ChampionJuice Robinson in the first round but losing to Yoshi-Hashi in the second round.[43][44] On March 23, 2019, at the New Japan Cup finals, Owens unsuccessfully challenged Juice Robinson for the IWGP United States Championship.[45] On June 16, Owens teamed with Bullet Club stablemates Yujiro Takahashi andEl Phantasmo to unsuccessfully challengeRyusuke Taguchi,Togi Makabe andToru Yano for theNEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Owens participated in the2019 World Tag League teaming again with Bad Luck Fale, the duo finished with a record of six wins and nine losses failing to advance to the final round.[46]
After a six-month layoff due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Chase returned to NJPW on the debut episode ofStrong on August 7, losing toDavid Finlay in the first round of theNew Japan Cup USA.[47] He returned to Japan on November 1 as part of theRoad To Power Struggle tour. In the2020 World Tag League, Owens teamed with Fale again, finishing with a record of three wins and six losses and failed to advance to the finals.[48]
AtWrestle Kingdom 16 Owens made the final four in the New Japan Rambo for the second year in a row on January 4.[56] The following day, in a four-way match for theProvisional KOPW 2022 Trophy, he lost toMinoru Suzuki.[57] AtWrestling Dontaku 2022, Fale and Chase Owens won theIWGP Tag Team Championship in athree-waytag team match.[58] They lost the titles on June 12, atDominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall.[59] Also at the event Owens was announced to be participating in theG1 Climax 32 tournament in July, where he would compete in the B block.[60] He finished with 4 points, therefore failing to advance to the semi-finals.[61] In November Owens teamed with Bad Luck Fale in the 2022World Tag League tournament. Mid-way through the tournament, it was announced that Owens would be absent for the remainder of the tournament, following the passing of a family member, causing the duo to forfeit the remainder of the tournament, thus ending their tournament campaign with 4 points.[62]
In May of the following year, Owens participated in theNew Japan Cup, receiving a bye to the second round, where he was defeated byTetsuya Naito.[63] In July, Owens participated in 2023G1 Climax, where he'd be placed in the A Block. Owens finished bottom of the block with 4 points, eliminating from the tournament.[64]
On September 29, Owens made his debut for Ring of Honor, losing toKenny King. Owens returned to ROH on August 24, 2019, defeatingP. J. Black and LSG, thus earning a match for theROH World Television Championship. The next day at ROH Honor For All, Owens was defeated by the reigning champion Shane Taylor.[70]
^abSatin, Ryan (January 7, 2019)."Chase Owens Signs NJPW Contract".Pro Wrestling Sheet | Insider Wrestling News and Reports. RetrievedOctober 26, 2019.
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