Kevin Owens Explains What Led to His Devastating Neck Injury

Kevin Owens appeared on the April 4 episode of WWE SmackDown and delivered heartbreaking news: he will need neck surgery and won’t be able to compete at WrestleMania 41. Many fans were left wondering how the injury happened, and Owens has now revealed when he believes it took place.

While speaking on My Mom’s Basement, Kevin Owens explained what led to his decision for him to undergo surgery. He said that after 25 years of wrestling, he generally feels good, but started noticing something was off during matches in recent months. Although he had a full-body MRI back in December that showed only minor spinal issues, which doctors said were normal for wrestlers, things changed in January.

In a match that month, Owens experienced two moments that severely jarred his neck. After continued discomfort, he had another MRI this week, which revealed a serious issue. Owens believes that the January match is when the real damage happened, as everything looked fine in his earlier scan.

“Doing this for 25 years, I feel really great. And even now, I feel great. I do. It’s not 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.

Advertising

Advertising

So I know for a fact there’s a specific moment because in December, I did a full body MRI just on my own for curiosity, just to make sure, to see if there’s anything that I should be aware of. At the time, the report came back that my knees were s***, but I’ve been well aware of that for a long time, so there’s no concern there. And then there’s something about my spine and mild to moderate stenosis, which for what we do, and I showed it to the WWE doctors and 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 your neck and everything looks good. Everything looks good. For what you’ve been doing, you’re fine.’ So I was like, ‘great.’ And I felt great.

But then in January, I had a match, and in the match, two things happened that really jarred my neck. That’s when the issue 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.”

Owens also said some people might blame his hard-hitting wrestling style, but the injury didn’t come from anything extreme. It happened during a regular match with simple moves he’s done many times before. This just shows how injuries can happen even in normal situations.

“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.’ 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. [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… I didn’t land on my head, I didn’t get hurt. I don’t remember anything in those matches going, ‘Oh, my neck.’ You know what I mean? Yeah.”

As reported earlier, Kevin Owens’ neck issues, which he spoke about during his promo on SmackDown, are completely real. The situation was described as “awful,” confirming that Owens is expected to undergo surgery, just like he said. It was added that there’s talk backstage that he might need fusion surgery down the line, and he received a lot of sympathy following his injury.

Now that The Prizefighter is preparing for surgery and focusing on his recovery, fans around the world are sending their support and wishing him a speedy and strong comeback. After everything he’s given to the WWE Universe, there’s no doubt they’ll be ready to welcome him back with open arms when the time comes.

What are your thoughts on Kevin Owens’ injury and his powerful decision to share it so openly? Do you think WWE should take more steps to protect talent from long-term injuries? Let us know in the comments—we’d love to hear your feedback and support for KO!