It's widely known that Kevin Owens went to Stone Cold Steve Austin first to ask for his blessing before using the Stunner, but WWE actually held him back from using the Stunner even after that.

At a time where he felt the powerbomb was being overused, Kevin Owens went to Stone Cold Steve Austin and asked for his blessing to use the Stunner, to which he happily accepted.

However, WWE held Owens back from using the Stunner immediately despite The Texas Rattlesnake's blessing.

During an interview with Corey Graves on the After The Bell Podcast, The Prizefighter stated WWE stopped him from using the Stunner immediately after he received Austin's permission as it didn't fit with the direction his character was going in at the time in 2016.

He said, via Wrestling Inc: "The stunner, in my head, was something that could be a great way for me to try to get [to polarizing]. So I went to Steve and I asked him if I could use it, and he was very happy that I asked him.

"You know, me giving him the respect of it but more than anything, he was happy that someone asked him because he's like, 'You want to use it as a finisher ?' I'm like, 'Yes'.

"He's like, 'God, it's about time; I can't believe nobody's tried this yet. I can't believe no one had come and asked about using the stunner as a finisher. It's a great finish, like, why not?' He then went on and said some people use it and it means nothing. So I said, 'Okay, that's great.'

"And then I tried to go through other channels and was shut down. So I wasn't able to start using it at that point, even though I snuck it in one of my matches with Roman [Reigns], which ended up leading to a funny exchange between me and Steve on his podcast later on where he tried how to use the stunner properly because I couldn't beat Roman with it that night.

"Anyway, I've had Steve's blessing to use it for a long time and I was just waiting for the right time. This year felt like that was it, so that's what I've been going with. Some people love it, some people really hate it. But again, I'm fine with that. I love doing it."

Thankfully, WWE eventually allowed him to use the Stunner, and they haven't looked back, as it's helped Owens on his current babyface run in WWE.