Kevin Owens Blasts “Rotten” Fans Buying Plane Tickets Just to Get Autographs

Kevin Owens is well aware of the downsides that come with being a popular WWE Superstar, especially when it comes to fans who don’t respect his boundaries at airports. Owens has made it clear he’s not a fan of people asking for autographs at airports, even calling out fans who go as far as buying plane tickets just to get autographs.

While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Kevin Owens said that when he gets to the airport and sees people waiting for autographs, he tells them he doesn’t sign there but is happy to take a picture instead. When he says that, about 20 people usually walk away annoyed because they’re not really fans, they’re just there to get autographs. He doesn’t mind that, but he’s usually tired and has to get to work. If it’s only five or six people, it’s not a big deal.

“What I do now in airports is that 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.’ When I say that, 20 of them turn around and go, ‘Ugh.’ ‘Cause they’re not there to be fans, which I don’t have a problem with, but I just got to the airport, I’m tired, and I gotta go to work. Sometimes, man, when we get to an airport and it’s 5 or 6 people, okay.”

Lately, there are often 40 to 50 people waiting for autographs. Owens said it can feel like they’re crowding around so much that he can’t even move. It gets overwhelming, and some of the women wrestlers have even said it feels scary.

Owens knows most of the people aren’t trying to make anyone feel uncomfortable; they just want autographs, but when there are that many people, it becomes too much. So his advice is: don’t come to the airport.

“But nowadays we get there, man, 40–50 people. Sometimes it feels like they get around you, you can’t even move, it’s overwhelming for me. And I’ve seen it done to the girls. Some girls have told me it gets almost scary. I know nobody that comes to the airport is getting out to do that — they just want an autograph. They’re not trying to crowd somebody and make them feel like, ‘Hey, that’s too much,’ but when there’s 40 of you, that’s what happens. So what I suggest is — don’t come to the airport.“

Owens talked about how some people have started buying tickets just to get through security and meet wrestlers at the gate. Owens said that kind of behavior is wrong and called those people rotten. He told one fan that recently, when the man tried to get an autograph at the gate. Owens refused, and the man pointed out how Steve Austin never had issues and Owens just said, “Good for you.”

To Owens, people act like that because they know nothing will happen to them at the airport. It shows what kind of people wrestlers have to deal with. Owens said airports are never the right place for that, and wrestlers really don’t like those situations.

“Some of them have started buying tickets to get across security so they meet us at our gates. And those guys, to me, are like rotten. If you do that, you’re an ass****. I told that to one of the guys that did it recently. As I was walking by, he was at our gate, and he’s trying to get me to sign, and I was like, ‘Nope.’ And he was like, ‘Well, Stone Cold doesn’t have a problem signing,’ and I told him, ‘Okay, good for you.’ He’s trying to talk shit ’cause he’s at an airport — he can do it since he knows nothing will happen to him. It says a lot about the kind of people that we deal with. The airport is literally never the place. We never like it.”

In the past, a video showed Rey Mysterio without his mask, refusing to sign because the fan was clearly trying to profit. Rhea Ripley also dealt with this, getting surrounded by fans at an airport and sharing her frustration. Regardless, Owens has made it abundantly clear he simply has no respect for fans who do not value his private space and it’s not hard to see why.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.

Do you agree with Kevin Owens that autograph seekers at airports are going too far? Have you ever met a wrestler in public, and how did that interaction go? Share your thoughts in the comments below — we’d love to hear your take!