[19] On March 22, 2008, at Know Your Enemies, Steen regained the IWS World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Max Boyer & former champion El Generico in a 3-Way match.

[28] They successfully defended the belts for almost three months before ultimately losing them to the team of Davey Richards and Super Dragon on October 27 in England as part of PWG's "European Vacation II" tour.

At Respect is Earned on July 1, Steen and El Generico defeated The Irish Airborne (Jake and Dave Crist), Pelle Primeau and Mitch Franklin, and Jimmy Rave and Adam Pearce in a Tag Team Scramble dark match.

At a pay-per-view taping in Boston on September 19, Steen and Generico beat The Age of the Fall to finally win the ROH World Tag Team Championship.

[7] On December 19 at Final Battle, ROH's first live pay-per-view, after a loss to The Young Bucks, Steen turned heel by attacking his tag team partner El Generico.

Prior to the outcome, on November 4, Kevin Steen's contract agreement with Ring of Honor ended due to financial budget concerns, which ultimately played a role within the stipulations of the match.

After Corino was defeated by Michael Elgin, Steen ran in to save him from a beatdown at the hands of the House of Truth, but ended up turning on him and his sponsor Jimmy Jacobs.

[52] On the December 3 episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling, Steen was granted a match with Steve Corino at Final Battle, with his ROH future on the line.

[80] On February 8, 2014, Steen earned a shot at the ROH World Championship by defeating Jay Lethal, Michael Elgin and Tommaso Ciampa in a four-way number one contender's match.

After another upset victory over the ROH World Tag Team Champions, Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli), Steen and Tozawa made it to the finals of the tournament, where they were defeated by The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson).

[92] On December 10, Steen and Dragon, known collectively as "Appetite for Destruction", defeated The Young Bucks in a Guerrilla Warfare match to win the PWG World Tag Team Championship.

[101][102] After El Generico had agreed to a deal with WWE, he and Steen reunited one more time on January 12, 2013, by entering the 2013 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament.

[110][111][112] At NXT TakeOver: R Evolution on December 11, Owens defeated CJ Parker in his debut match, in which Parker legitimately gave him a broken nose with a Third Eye (palm strike); later that night, when Sami Zayn (the former El Generico) won the NXT Championship, Owens came to the ring to congratulate Zayn before attacking him with a powerbomb onto the ring apron, establishing himself as a heel in the process.

[123] On the July 4 WWE Network special, The Beast in the East event held in Tokyo, Japan, Owens lost the NXT Championship to Finn Bálor, ending his reign at 143 days.

While still the NXT Champion, Owens made his unannounced main roster debut on the May 18 episode of Raw, responding to John Cena's United States Championship open challenge.

[135] Owens then took part in the tournament for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, in which he defeated Titus O'Neil[136] and Neville,[137] but lost to Dean Ambrose in the semifinals at Survivor Series on November 22.

[144][145] On the February 15 episode of Raw, Owens won the Intercontinental Championship for a second time, defeating former champion Dean Ambrose, Stardust, Tyler Breeze and Ziggler in a fatal five-way match.

[159] On the August 29 episode of Raw, Owens defeated Big Cass, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins after interference from Triple H to win the Universal Championship, his first world title in WWE.

[181] Owens, who would still defend his newly won title against Jericho at Payback with the winner going to SmackDown as well,[182] started referring to himself as the "Face of America" and also began sporting a different look, having trimmed his beard and hair down, while wearing a suit.

[190] During a house show at Madison Square Garden on July 7, Owens lost the United States Championship to Styles, ending his second reign at 66 days.

SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan then made a match between Owens and Styles for the United States Championship at SummerSlam, with Commissioner Shane McMahon as the special guest referee.

[194] During that time, Owens dropped the Face of America gimmick and reverted to the Prizefighter persona, shedding both the suits, America-orientated promos and his pursuit of the United States Championship.

[201] Both failed to win AJ Styles's WWE Championship in a handicap match at Royal Rumble on January 28[202] and at Fastlane on March 11 in a six-pack challenge also involving Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin and John Cena.

[219] On the February 26, 2019 episode of SmackDown, Owens returned as a face, replacing Kofi Kingston in the WWE Championship match at Fastlane against Daniel Bryan, per Vince McMahon's orders.

[221] After WrestleMania 35, Owens started a storyline, where he congratulated Kofi Kingston for winning the WWE Championship and joined The New Day as their honorary third member, since Big E was recovering from an injury.

[286] Over the following months, Owens and Zayn successfully defended the titles against Imperium's Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser, Pretty Deadly, and The Judgment Day's Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio in several matches on Raw and SmackDown.

[301] At Backlash France on May 4, Owens and Orton lost to Sikoa and Tonga in a Tag Team Street Fight after interference from Tama's brother Tanga Loa.

[302] At Money in the Bank on July 6, Owens, Orton and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes lost to the Bloodline's Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga and the debuting Jacob Fatu in a six-man tag team match after interference from Loa.

[310] After the event went off the air, Owens brutally attacked Rhodes with a package piledriver and got into a verbal and physical confrontation with Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

[329] Steen is best friends with fellow Canadian wrestler Rami Sebei, currently known in WWE as Sami Zayn, with the pair's on-screen characters teaming up or feuding with each other various times since they first met in 2002.