There’s something about the experience of seeing pro wrestling live that cannot be matched by merely watching on television. Moments of connection and shared experiences that only a live audience gets to share with their favorite – and least favorite – wrestlers.
Big Zo has never been a hated figure at OVW, but he was a heel two years ago when the Davis Arena fans started chanting “Fix your wedgie!” Zo had his back turned to the fans, his attention focused on his tag partner Big Beef and the opponent in his grip at that moment. We were live on the air on local television and (at that time) on Fite TV.
OVW’s television production has changed since that night, but back then, it was easy to tell when we were at commercial break by what was on the video screens. As soon as he knew we were at commercial, Zo grabbed his gear and yanked upward, giving himself an even deeper wedgie before smacking his butt to the fans. Quick as it happened, Zo fixed the wedgie and was camera-ready before the commercials ended – but not before the laughter subsided.
Zo is dressed in a suit, having his finished a Zoom call where he defended his Capstone Project before a panel of professors from the University of Louisville – the last step before receiving his Doctorate in Social Work – when I ask him about that night. He smiles, remembering.
“When you’re a heel, you lean into it,” he says. “Since then, I’ve started wearing my compression shorts under my gear, which I picked up from Dalton McKenzie. Josh Ashcraft was really appreciative when I did that.”
Heel or Babyface, the energy level in Davis Arena always picks up when it’s “Zo Time.” Big Zo has long been one of the most entertaining heavyweights at OVW. He’s also one of the company’s best ambassadors. Outside the ring, he’s always smiling. He loves the fans, loves the kids, and chooses to use his platform for good. In 2022 he published his first book Cooking Up Counseling, a project he started as a response to the mental health challenges that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. Owens wanted to break down the mystique around professional counseling and the stigmas that keep many people from seeking it out.
A Master’s Degree in Social Work gave him the knowledge to make a case for counseling. But his status as “Big Zo” gave him the platform to reach people who needed to hear his message.
Cowann Owens was born March 30, 1985 in Louisville, Kentucky. “I’ve been a wrestling fan as long as I can remember. I grew up watching USWA on local TV because we didn’t have cable, but around the time of the Monday Night Wars, I started watching.”
Owens was drawn more to WCW during that era, especially Kevin Nash. “I saw this big, strong dude wearing Fubu, jeans, and a T-shirt, acting like a badass, and I was like. ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to be a badass. It’s kind of played out now in 2025, but it was different back then.”
Zo started training at the age of 14 in 1999. “It was a semi-pro or pro-am group called FPW: Future of Professional Wrestling. Really it was just a bunch of backyard kids. Hy Zaya had just transitioned out of that group, but my friend Brian Vinson was a big part of it. I wouldn’t say he trained me, but he really helped me a lot. I call him the Godfather of Wrestling.”
Working under the name Diablo, Zo and his fellow pro-am wrestlers would rent a ring from a bigger group like IWA Mid-South to train or put on shows. Some of the veteran wrestlers would come and train with them, which is how he met JB Thunder.
“JB Thunder told me one day he wanted me to do a gorilla press, where I lift him over my head. For a guy like him to tell me, just a kid, he wanted me to do that, was so humbling. I couldn’t believe he had that trust in me.”
Zo’s pro-am career came to an abrupt end after he got a concussion in the ring. He decided to focus on football and academics, and he played for the Kentucky State Championship with Louisville Make High School three years in a row, winning one. “We beat Trinity, then they beat us. Then they won the rubber match.”
After high school, Zo played football for a year at Murray State University in Kentucky. “I was actually there on an academic scholarship, but I wanted to keep playing. I went from being in the State Championship to going 2-10 in the OVC Conference.”
Zo wasn’t having fun playing any more. He didn’t want to quit, but something the coach told the incoming freshman stuck with Zo. “Coach Minnich said, ‘There comes a time in life when you stop doing something, but it doesn’t make you a quitter. You made it to college playing football. You’re not a quitter.’ I made the choice to focus on my academic scholarship, but I can always say I was a collegiate football player, and a few years later, I came back and played for the Derby City Thunder semi-pro team.”
Zo graduated from Murray State with a Bachelor’s Degree in social work. He went on to get his Masters at the University of Louisville. He worked for five years at Seven Counties, a community mental health and behavioral services center. After leaving Seven Counties, he and his family lived at West End School, a private, non-profit boarding school, where he served as a middle school counselor and dorm dad. When his contract was not renewed, he went back to Seven Counties, where he worked as a supervisor. He then moved on to the VA in Louisville, where he is currently a therapist and mental health supervisor.
In the midst of establishing himself in the mental health field and having a family, Zo felt the call to get back into wrestling. In 2014 he attended a Destination One Wrestling show in Clarksville, Indiana. He saw Hy Zaya wrestle Sabu and watched Shane Mercer do the Moonsault and Battery for the first time. “I started posting things online about how awesome the show was and made the comment about getting back into it. That’s when Frank the Tank reached out to me.”
Frank McIntosh, aka Frank the Tank attended Murray State at the same time as Zo. He’d figured out Zo was a former wrestler during their college years after seeing him take a bump on a wooden stage. At Frank’s invitation, Zo decided to give wrestling another try at a promotion called UWA. He met Scott Diamond and joined his Diamond Cartel faction. He made inroads at IWA Mid-South. He met his future OVW colleagues “Amazing” Maria James and Cash Flo.
“Cash and I were working a reverse battle royal for IWA Mid-South, where everyone starts outside the ring and you’re trying to toss your opponents inside. He was really impressed that unlike everyone else in the match, I wasn’t afraid to mix it up with him.”
Zo started training with Cash Flo at SWE. After refining the skills he first developed as a kid, he started looking into OVW. The promotion no longer had the WWE banners hanging up in the Arena or the luster it once enjoyed, but it still had the man who turned John Cena and so many others into mega stars: Rip Rogers.
Zo showed up at an OVW and ran into Hy Zaya, who had become a good friend. Seeing Hy Zaya working for OVW convinced Zo to speak with Gilbert Corsey. Gilbert told Zo to speak to Rip Rogers.
“I sent Rip a text and introduced myself, then I went to class later that week,” says Zo. “Rip said, ‘Who the f— are you?’ I said, ‘I’m Big Zo.’ He said, ‘All right, get your fat ass in the ring.’ About six months into training, Rip came to me and said, ‘Zo, you sent me a text about six months ago introducing yourself. I just saw it!’ Six months, I thought he knew who I was and was expecting me! All he cared was I had my fifty bucks!”
Zo continued his education when Al Snow took over at OVW. “Some of Al’s teaching builds on Rip’s. Some of it contradicts it. But it’s all made me a better wrestler.”
Beyond just the teaching, Zo likes going to training to get more reps in the ring. “You don’t go to the gym, get ripped, and then stop going because you’re all ripped. You keep going to maintain. That’s why wrestlers need to keep going to practice, to stay in ring shape.”
Zo enjoyed some singles runs and tag teams over the years, most recently with Big Beef. But many long-time fans will always associate him with one of the greatest heel factions in OVW history, the Legacy of Brutality.
Right after Big Zo’s debut, Josh Ashcraft came out to the ring. The former referee was trying his hand at being a manager, and the “East End Villain” cut a promo asking Zo to join him.
“When Zo first came into OVW and we met, I didn’t realize then he’d become like a brother to me,” says Josh Ashcraft. “He offered to ride with me to Elizabethtown as I drove the ring truck down for a show. I started managing Zo a week or two after that and the rest is history! We always called him the ‘Hank McCoy’ (aka Beast from the X-men) of the LOB. Calm, cool and highly intelligent with the ability to tap into that primal ‘beast mode’ at a moments notice. Zo is one of the most unique individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending time with.”
Not long after, Hy Zaya joined the group, and they won the Tag Team Championships. After years of near misses, one coming in a door while the other was walking out, the two had become friends and soon won the OVW Tag Team Championships.
“I could go on for days about Cowann ‘Big Zo, Owens,” says Hy Zaya, “From the organic way our brethrenhood formed, to the dynamics of a relationship with such a unique and genuine soul. However I’m blessed to just say I’ve gotten through the hardest of times of my life and the greatest times with and because of this man, and wouldn’t be the man that I am today without him. My Ninja!!!”
The trio soon became a quartet, and a Legacy. “One night before a TV taping, I got a call from Cash Flo,” says Zo. “He said, ‘Hey, Alonzo!’ He always called me Alonzo, even though that’s not my name. ‘Alonzo, come open the side door.’ After coming a couple times to hang out, they had Cash do a run-in and join the group. That was the core, original Legacy of Brutality.”
LOB had a few members come and go like Big Steve and Jay Bradley. They still have a group chat. Every time a heel faction rises up that threatens to overshadow OVW, the fans start chanting for LOB to return.
“We’re all still in contact,” says Zo. “We all love each other. We’re all doing different things now. But I don’t know. It’s wrestling. You never say never.”
The LOB also has their own private locker room to this day where they hang out and enjoy chicken dinners together. “Big Steve’s birthday is the day before mine on March 29. A few years ago, on his birthday, we had a tag match that wasn’t the best. Doug Basham sees us in there and yells, ‘What the hell are you all doing in here eating chicken?’ Big Steve said, ‘It’s my birthday!’”
It’s actually the day after his birthday that Big Zo and I sit down for this interview at Umami Buffet in Louisville. (Side bar to my friend Kevo Thrives: Hibachi Buffet is great, but I have to give Umami the edge. I mean, a Chinese buffet with shrimp Alfredo? Come on!) Zo’s feeling relaxed, relieved. His presentation to the U of L staff went very well, all but assuring he will soon receive a Doctorate in Social Work.
“I jokingly say I’m getting a degree so I can be Dr. Zo in the ring,” says Zo. “I’m not gonna get a pay raise for it. There are other reasons. I can amplify my voice, make a difference in the community, and help more people. But I tell people it’s just for wrestling.”
Zo is certainly not afraid to speak his mind, in person or on social media. Like many government employees in 2025, he lives week to week not knowing if his job or his office will be there tomorrow. He believes in the work he’s doing, and he’s determined to use his status as Big Zo and Dr. Cowann Owens to make a difference.
He’s also looking forward to spending more time in the ring. After being absent much of 2024, Zo came back to OVW as a regular in December. The time off wasn’t anything Zo requested, nor was it intentional that Al Snow wasn’t booking Zo. But it gave him some good time to reflect on what he was doing in the ring. He’s come back with a renewed energy and a desire to have fun any time he works.
“The guy you see in ring now is the same guy you’d see in the locker room. I can still ramp it up and get mean, but I like to dance and play with my kids and in the locker room and in the ring. It’s funny because growing up, I didn’t like the way the African American wrestlers were portrayed, always shucking and jiving, but that’s just me being me.”
Wrestling is entertainment, first and foremost, but he’s learned how to balance the entertainment with the sport. “Al will tell you, the dancing is great, but dancing isn’t going to get you the win. So how do you incorporate that into putting on a competitive wrestling match? You still have to make it make sense.”
Big Zo knows his years in the ring are numbered. He’s 40 years old. He’s a dedicated family man. And he’s a full-time therapist and advocate for mental health. But he’s also in the right place to learn not just wrestling but any aspect of the wrestling business. His long-time friend Hy Zaya is learning production. Maria James, who was a mentor in his early days, now mentors the younger talent at OVW. He could easily pivot to being an agent, working in production, or any number of support roles in the future.
But that future is not now. It’s still Zo time, and in short order, it will be Dr. Zo Time. You better believe Cowann Owens is going to enjoy every moment of time he has left in that ring.
Top photo of Zo and Crixus by Lloyd Thomas.
Buy Big Zo’s book Cooking up Counseling on Amazon!
