Kevin Owens has taken it upon himself to speak for his fellow wrestlers when it comes to fans following them at the airport.
The short answer is: Don't.
The longer answer came during an interview Owens had on Insight with Chris Van Vliet. Van Vliet asked Owens about what he signs on trading cards, and that segued into a four-minute conversation about the do's and don't's of approaching wrestlers. Owens is known to write creative transcriptions on trading cards and while signing autographs, so Van Vliet asked Owens what inscription he hopes people find the soonest.
"There's one that I wrote that I don't think anybody has found yet. It says 'Don't follow us at the airport.' And that's one that people should take to heart. We love our fans, we really do. What I do now at airports is, I come and when they're all waiting for their autographs, I just go, 'I don't sign at the airport, but I'll gladly take a picture with you.' And when I say that, 20 of them turn around. They're there to sell it on eBay. I don't really have a problem with that. I just got to the airport. I'm either tired, or I've got to go to work. Like, when we get to an airport and its five or six people, okay. But nowadays, we get there; 40, 50 people. Like, they get around. You can't even move. It's very overwhelming for me. And I've seen it done to the girls. Some girls have told me, like, it gets almost scary," Owens said.
KO said that he doesn't honestly believe that people set out to be "scary," but that it happens.
"They're not trying to crowd somebody and make them feel, like, 'Hey, this is too much.' But when there's 40 of you, that's what happens. So what I suggest is just don't come to the airport," he said.
Kevin Owens says fans need to stop following wrestlers at the airport. pic.twitter.com/KlglfL2Vxr
— Chris Van Vliet (@ChrisVanVliet) April 11, 2025
Owens reflected on a story recently where he and his fellow wrestlers arrived at the Newark, Jew Jersey airport after a flight was delayed, and they were running late for their connecting flight.
He had to put his foot down.
"11 or 12 of us are trying to make our connection and we're all gonna be really tight. So we're all running, all trying to get to right where we have to cross back into security to get our flights. And all of us are like, trying to make it within 15 minutes. And there's 10 people trying to get us to sign. And I had to say, 'Now is not the time. Get away from us. We don't have time. We're all rushing for our flights.' And I think they got the message, thankfully. But there's just times too where we just can't do it," he shared.
Some fans take it even further, Owens said.
Not content with just meeting wrestlers at the public side of the airport, some fans even purchase tickets to get to the wrestlers' gates.
"Some of 'em have started buying tickets to get across security. So they meet us at our gates. And those guys, to me, are like, rotten. Like, if you do that, you're an asshole. And I told that to one of the guys recently, as I was walking by him. He was at our gate and he was trying to get me to sign. I go, 'Nope.' He goes, 'Well Stone Cold doesn't have a problem signing.' I told him, 'Okay, good for you.' And he's like trying to talk shit 'cause he's at an airport. So he can do it. He knows nothing's gonna happen to him. He would never do that in the street, you know what I mean? But like, that just says a lot about the kind of people," Owens stated..
Owens referenced a story in which a crowd flooded Rey Mysterio and he refused to sign autographs, so the fans recorded it and said that Mysterio was being rude.
Owens said acting like that is insane.
"The airport is literally just never the place. We never like it. I guarantee it," Owens said.
Owens spoke on a number of different subjects, including his WrestleMania 38 match with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Fans can read about that here.
The full interview with Chris Van Vliet can be seen in its entirety in the video above.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
