Chase Owens

Steven Owens, better known by the ring name Chase Owens (チェーズ・オーエンズ Chēzu Ōenzu, born March 7, 1990) is an American professional wrestler currently signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club.

He is a former IWGP Tag Team Champion with Bad Luck Fale and KOPW trophy winner.

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.

Owens participated in the 2007 CWA Best of the Best tournament, but he was defeated in the first round by The Jin.

On November 14, 2008, Owens competed in his first title match, but was defeated by the defending AWA World Heavyweight Champion Tony Givens.

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.

On February 26, 2011, Owens defeated Sigmon to win his first title, the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) Junior Heavyweight Championship.

The following month, he defeated Jason Kincaid in a ladder match to win the NWA Mountain Empire Championship.

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.

On August 27, Owens competed in the Chikara Young Lions Cup IX tournament, but he was defeated by Jakob Hammermeier in a first-round four-way elimination match that also included Gregory Iron and Obariyon.

On October 7, Owens participated in a tournament for the vacant NWA 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.

On the May 25, 2012, episode of SmackDown, Owens under the name Kevin Bendl teamed with Brian Edwards in his only WWE appearance in a handicap match against Ryback.

The duo would lose the match.

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.

On October 13, 2014, Owens made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) at King of Pro-Wrestling, successfully defending the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship against Bushi.

After the match, Owens challenged Jushin Thunder Liger.

On November 8 at Power Struggle, Owens lost the title to Liger.

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.

Owens returned to NJPW on February 11, 2015, at The New Beginning in Osaka, where he and Rob Conway defeated Liger and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in a tag team match.

Three days later at The New Beginning in Sendai, Owens unsuccessfully challenged Liger for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Owens returned to NJPW in May to take part in the 2015 Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

He finished the tournament with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals.

On October 23, 2015, Owens joined Bullet Club.

The following day, Owens and new stablemate Kenny Omega entered the 2015 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, but were eliminated in their first round match by Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero).

In May 2016, Owens appeared in NJPW as a late replacement for an injured Nick Jackson in the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

He finished second to last in his block with a record of three wins and four losses.

At the end of the year, Owens took part in the 2016 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.

Around this time, Owens was quietly promoted to the promotion's heavyweight division.

Two years later, Owens would win the 2017 Elite 8 tournament, defeating Kaito Kiyomiya in his first round match, Mentallo in the second round, and Shane Sabre in the finals.

On February 11, 2017, Owens defeated Jason Kincaid to win the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship, ending Kincaid's historic reign of 1,951 days.

The championship was retired on August 19.

Owens participated in the 2017 World Tag League, teaming with Bad Luck Fale, the duo finished with a record of three wins and four losses, failing to advance form their block.

On June 16, 2018, Chase defeated his trainer and mentor Ricky Morton on a Battle On The Border (BOTB) show.

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.

In 2019, Chase started wrestling less dates for independent promotions as he signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling full-time.

In 2020, he returned to MACW for the first time in 4 years, in a losing effort against Billy Gunn on 18 January.