Kevin Owens opened up about his neck injury in an interview with Robbie Fox released on Saturday.
On the ‘My Mom’s Basement’ podcast, which was recorded on Friday, Owens said the extent of his injury had only been revealed to him on Thursday.
He also revealed that he is sure the injury occurred in January this year. Owens had two matches in January: a win over Rey Mysterio on the January 17th episode of SmackDown; and a victory over Jimmy Uso on the January 24th episode.
Owens also voiced his frustration at the news of his injury leaking before he could make the announcement.
Ahead of Friday’s edition of SmackDown, Owens told Fox:
So I’m actually going to announce tonight I can’t do WrestleMania…I have to go have neck surgery, which, you know, 25 years in with the stuff I’ve done, I feel like it was bound to happen, you know? But it sucks, man. The timing sucks for sure […]
It’s not like a constant problem, but over the last few months, I’ve had an issue in my matches that made me go, “I think something’s not right. And then we looked into it and found out, yeah, there’s something going on with my neck.”
Fox asked Owens whether there was a specific moment when he thought the injury occurred. The 40-year-old answered that he had taken a full-body MRI in December 2024, which revealed that his knees were “shit”, but added, “I’ve been well aware of that for some time.”
The scan also showed “mild to moderate stenosis”, but despite these issues, he said he was told by WWE doctors: “Your spine and your neck and everything looks good. Everything looks good. For what you’ve been doing, you’re fine.”
He added:
But then in January, I had a match. And in the match, two things happened 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, yeah, it’s serious. So I think that match in January is what did it, because I had an MRI a month before that and everything looked fine.
He talked of his shock at the diagnosis and disappointment at missing out on WrestleMania:
When the WWE doctor called me to tell me about it, I was so shocked because I knew there was something wrong, but I didn’t expect it to be — it’s so wrong that you can’t even do WrestleMania. I thought it’s, “Yeah, we’ll take care of it after WrestleMania.”
So when he told me I couldn’t do it, I was so shocked that I stopped listening to him almost. And he was trying, you know, he was explaining to me everything that’s happening, what we’re going to do […]
I know what the next step is, but I kind of almost don’t know what the exact injury is — like what’s the actual — I know something’s wrong with my neck and it’s affecting my mobility or whatever. But I was just so zoned out.
Fox asked whether the required surgery had been scheduled:
No, it’s so new. This was all, this all happened yesterday [Thursday]. So, obviously tonight is SmackDown. I’m going to announce that I can’t do WrestleMania and then, uh, I’m going to go see the crew we have in Birmingham to figure out what the next step is.
He talked of his support system and voiced confidence that he would be back:
I’m okay, man. I have a great support system. My family is great. My coworkers are great and everything. It sucks, man. Just not getting to wrestle Randy Orton at WrestleMania really sucks […]
I know I’ll come back or, at the very least, I really hope I come back. You know, I guess there’s — I never take anything for granted in what we do. So, who knows, but I’m pretty likely to come back.
Fox asked Owens whether he had been upset that the news had leaked out on Friday before SmackDown.
Yeah. It really annoys me. Actually, I woke up to seeing that it was already leaked and it really upsets me, especially because I know that whoever leaked it is some office employee that shouldn’t know this shit in the first place.
I told people like this is going to leak. They’re like, “No, no, we’re keeping it tight-knit.” But then yesterday, obviously some departments had to find out for some reasons. And now someone who shouldn’t know this stuff found out, and it went where it shouldn’t.
And now I don’t — now, they took away my right to tell people, because now everybody knows already.
On a timetable for a possible return, Owens said:
I don’t know. I haven’t talked to the surgeon or anything like that yet. I’m going to do all that on Monday. I mean, I know that most of the people that have gone through similar things have probably, you know, six months to eight months to a year. So, I would assume it is within that range, but I don’t really know. Like I said, it’s all really new right now.
When asked whether his very physical matches at the Royal Rumble or Elimination Chamber could have worsened the injury, Owens said:
So this is the funny part, right? I know that some of my detractors, and there’s plenty out there, will say, “See, this is why you shouldn’t do this stuff. This is why this, this is why that.”
But I am telling you it happened in a regular match. No hardcore things, nothing. There were two very simple things that I’ve done a million times.
And then I had the others. Ultimately, I probably shouldn’t have had those matches considering what was happening, but we didn’t know. But in those matches, as crazy as they were, at no time did I feel like my neck — like, I didn’t land on my head. I didn’t get hurt. I don’t remember anything in those matches going on my neck.
Watch the full interview below:
