Kevin Owens Undergoes Neck Surgery

The Kevin Owens comeback story has begun.

On the April 4 edition of SmackDown, Kevin Owens announced that he was being forced to miss WrestleMania and his match with Randy Orton. Not only that, he needed to undergo neck surgery and could be out of the ring for well over a year.

In a subsequent interview, Kevin Owens said he suffered the injury during a regular singles match in January. That means he competed in several high-profile matches, including his violent Unsanctioned Match with Sami Zayn at Elimination Chamber with the problem.

Owens noted that he only became aware of the true severity of the issue on April 3, and initially wanted to delay surgery until after WrestleMania, but he was told that wouldn’t be possible.

Kevin Owens On Road To Recovery

Reporting in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that Owens underwent surgery on April 7. It appears his recovery time ranges from anywhere around six months to 15 months, but the man himself is determined to wrestle again.

Regarding Owens, his surgery was believed to have taken place on 4/7. In most cases, this type of surgery leads to the person being out 12 to 15 months although there are other forms of neck surgery that can be done. Tommaso Ciampa several years back had a shorter recovery time. Owens put the timetable as six to eight months, or maybe a year.

Interestingly, Randy Orton is still listed for a match at WrestleMania despite Owens being out of action. In the most updated report on the full WrestleMania card, a match for Orton is scheduled for night two, but his opponent remains unconfirmed.

It’s believed Orton’s status will be addressed on the April 11 episode of SmackDown.