WWE NXT's Kevin Owens returning to familiar territory in Philadelphia

Reigning NXT champion Kevin Owens has been to Philadelphia before.

Among his many stops during lengthy career on the independent wrestling scene, Philadelphia was one of his more frequent.

But when he returns for two shows at the Tower Theater on Thursday, May 14 and Friday, May 15, things will be a little different, despite his familiarity with the city.

When he runs through the things he need for his trip, among them won't be a slew of merchandise he would hope to sell to the fans in attendance. When he was making the rounds on the independent circuit, Owens would bring as many 200 t-shirts with him to shows.

He won't have to worry about that this time around. He's not on the independents fending for himself anymore. Now, he's under the WWE umbrella, and being under that umbrella takes away a lot of the outside distractions.

When he returns Philadelphia with NXT, he can focus solely on putting on a show for the fans and improving his standing with the company, which will in turn, improve the quality of life for his family.

"Philly has always been very good to me," Owens said during an interview with philly.com. "Regardless of what promotion I was wrestling for, it's obviously a city with a lot of history as far as wrestling and sports entertainment."

"To come with NXT as NXT champion is cool because the last time I was in Philly it was with Ring of Honor and I knew it was the last time I'd be coming to Philly with Ring of Honor," he added. "In my head I didn't know when I'd be back in Philly. Now to do it with WWE, with NXT and as the champion, it's a pretty good feeling."

Despite not having to man a merchandise table before the show, Owens still takes it upon himself to have the ability to sell merchandise with his performance in the ring — some tendencies just never go away.

"I have to sell merchandise in a way because I have to work as hard as I can to make sure the merchandise the WWE is producing for me sells well so that I benefit from it," Owens said. "I don't have to sell it at the table myself. I enjoyed doing that because it gave me access to the fans."

"It was difficult lugging 200 t-shirts around to every show that I go to and putting in the time and the work to actually sell them," he added. "I really enjoy that part to where I don't have to worry about it, but at the same time I want to sell those shirts, I want to sell the merch, I want to grow as a performer and a character so that people want to buy that merch, so it's still on my mind."

That mentality is what helped him become a major draw for promotions all around the world, including Ring of Honor. His name rang bells among wrestling fans before he set foot in NXT. Despite his star power, Owens went into NXT willing to learn from what he believes are some of the best teachers any wrestler could ask for at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla.

"Everything I knew, and I think I knew quite bit, it was still nothing compared to the wealth of knowledge that NXT and the Performance Center allows you to have access to," he said.

"If you think you know everything when you get there you're in for a big surprise," he added. "I didn't know everything, I knew I didn't know everything and I was so excited to get to learn from all of those people."

It turned out Owens didn't have a ton of time to sit under the learning tree, as his wealth of experience put him on the fast track to stardom in NXT. He wasn't alone, as Finn Balor and Hideo Itami are other examples of acquisitions NXT made in 2014 that have quickly turned into stars.

Hideo Itami took part in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania and exactly two months after his debut on NXT television, Owens defeated Sami Zayn to become the NXT champion.

All three have only added to what is quickly becoming the most critically acclaimed wrestling product on television. NXT has gone from being merely WWE's developmental program to a separate touring brand in it of itself.

More than 5,000 fans were in attendance to see NXT live and in person at San Jose State University during WrestleMania weekend, and there was such a demand for one NXT show in Philadelphia that a second show was added just to accommodate as many people as possible.

"I think [the praise is] well-deserved," Owens said. Everybody works so hard. I see it everyday. That's the thing. People watch NXT once a week on the [WWE] Network, and they see one hour of the work we put in. I see every single day the people that are there working hard. The praise that we get is not surprising because we work really hard."

"We're going to put on a show Thursday with the knowledge that Friday we have to be better because we have to live up to what we do Thursday and we know we're going to kick ass on Thursday, so Friday we have to make that even better and we will," he added.

Before NXT even became the darling of hardcore wrestling fans, it was in the spotlight of ESPN. After two years of production, ESPN unveiled a special episode of E60 profiling members of NXT during 2013 by taking a look at their very real lives.

Among those profiled was Adam Rose (real name Ray Leppan), who was introduced to the ESPN world as a dedicated family man that anyone could root for, which is in stark contrast to the party animal he plays on WWE television.

Owens is a dedicated family man on screen and in real life. When he says he fights for his family, he means it. Owens is married with two children and uses providing a better life for them as motivation to succeed in the wrestling business.

Since joining NXT last year, his family situation has changed, but it has changed for the better.

"It's very different," Owens said. "It's nice. Change is nice. I get to be in my bed every night. I get to see my kids every morning. I get to spend time with my wife everyday. That's a major change. Of course I enjoyed the life I had before, I enjoy the life I have now and down the line traveling is going to come back into my life and that's okay, too. I'm kind of looking forward to it. I adjust to things well and I make things work so it's like a different chapter."

As much as things have changed since the last time Owens has been to Philadelphia, a lot of them have remained the same. Owens' mission of providing a better life for his family remains. His ability to put on entertaining matches has remains, and his adulation from the Philadelphia fans remains as well.

There won't be any merchandise tables to set up. There won't be any airports to rush to, but there will be a ring with fans that have paid money to see him perform in it. No matter what changes around Owens, that will remain.