Rumour Killer Regarding WWE’s Kevin Owens Neck Surgery

There has been some clarity regarding Kevin Owens and the health issues he is going through during his time away from WWE.

Kevin Owens announced to WWE fans on WWE SmackDown in Chicago on April 4th that he had suffered a serious neck injury that will require surgery. Owens was scheduled to face Randy Orton at WrestleMania 41, but the match is off now.

It was reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer that Kevin Owens had surgery to repair his injured neck on April 7, but that is reportedly not true.

In an update, Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp confirmed that Owens’ surgery hasn’t taken place yet.

People within WWE don’t expect Owens to be able to return before the end of the year, and he could miss next year’s WrestleMania.

Every wrestler and situation is different. Two current stars who had major neck surgery in recent years are Braun Strowman and Erik of the War Raiders. Both men missed more than one year of in-ring action. Owens likely won’t know how long he’s out until he has the surgery and goes through the long rehab process, but Owens believes that he will be able to wrestle again.

Kevin Owens Recalls When His Neck Injury Happened

After wrestling for 25 years and taking a lot of huge bumps in matches, Kevin Owens has beaten up his body a lot throughout his career. He’s had double knee surgery along with many other injuries, but the neck injury he is dealing with now is likely the most serious injury he has had in his career.

During an interview after finding out he needs neck surgery, Kevin Owens revealed that his injury occurred during a televised match, but not one of his brutal PLE matches like the Ladder Match with Cody Rhodes at the Royal Rumble or the Unsanctioned Match with Sami Zayn at Elimination Chamber.

“So I know for a fact there’s a specific moment [the injury occurred] because in December, I did a full body MRI just on my own for curiosity just to see if there’s anything I should be aware of. You can see if you have issues with your bone structure or organs or anything like that. At the time the report came back that my knees were s**t but I’ve been well aware of that for a long time so there’s no concern there.

And there was something about my spine, mild to moderate stenosis, and I showed it to WWE doctors and they’re like, ‘Yeah, for what you guys do everyone’s got a level of stenosis. Everyone on Earth walking around has a level of stenosis, but your spine and neck and everything else looks good. Everything looks good for what you’ve been doing. You’re fine’. I was like, ‘Great’ and I felt great.

But then in January I had a match and in the match I had two things happen that really jarred my neck and that’s when the issues started so I knew there was something. And then we ended up doing an MRI this week and found out that it’s serious. So I think that match in January is what did it because I had an MRI the month before that and everything looked fine.”

Owens spoke more about the neck injury and reminded fans about the risk involved in pro wrestling.

“This injury has happened to guys who have done far less dangerous things than me throughout their career, and it happened way sooner.

Sometimes it’s just bad luck and I think in that match, those two things that happened were just off by this much and it just changed everything.”

TJRWrestling wishes Kevin Owens all the best with his upcoming neck surgery and the long recovery. We will continue to provide updates as the information becomes available.