Kevin Owens made one hell of an impression during his WWE debut.

Back in May 2015, 'The Prizefighter' turned up uninvited on RAW to answer John Cena's United States Championship open challenge.

But rather than fighting fairly, he beat down the 16-time world champion in front of a stunned audience, before going over Cena clean a few weeks later.

With that, KO had announced himself as a main roster WWE Superstar. Before debuting, of course, he spent a substantial amount of time in NXT.

After all, he was carrying the developmental brand's title with him the night he appeared on RAW.

While Owens was far from the finished product in NXT, he could have looked very different from the get-go if one terrible gimmick idea wasn't nixed.

Speaking on The Chris Van Vliet Show recently, former WWE star turned NXT trainer Eugene (Nick Dinsmore) revealed that creative originally wanted Owens to be the new 'Mountie' character.

Back in the 1990s, Jacques Rougeau had found success with a gimmick of a corrupt, cattle prod-wielding member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Rougeau had also trained Owens early on in his career and WWE wanted the young star to take up the mantel. But when KO was pitched the idea, it made him cry.

"Kevin Owens is sitting ringside because he's just watching the class. I sit down next to him. He said the first time he ever wrestled was for Jacques Rougeau," Eugene revealed.  

"So, a couple of days go by. I come back and said, 'They got a new character for you. They're going to bring you in as the new Mountie.' He was starting to cry. 'You can't let them do that.'

"I said, 'No, it's going to be great! It's going to be awesome! You're going to have the red thing. They might even bring Jacques in. It's going to be great!'

"He was beginning to panic. Needless to say, it didn't happen."

Thankfully, nothing ever came of that nixed gimmick and Owens has gone on to become a fan favourite on the main roster. Just imagine if it was 'The Mountie' vs Roman Reigns at TLC...