Kevin Owens has no plans to play it safe following his return from serious neck surgery. After spending nearly 17 months away from WWE with no guarantee that he would ever wrestle again, Owens says he would rather stop competing altogether than let fear turn him into a weaker version of himself.
During an appearance on the Toronto Sun’s No Holds Barred, Owens was asked whether the injury would force him to wrestle more cautiously and take fewer risks. His answer was brutally simple: Don’t count on it.
“I think a lot of people certainly hope that I’m going to approach everything differently, but I don’t plan to because I don’t think I can do anything half-assed, and I don’t think that would help either.”
Owens said he recently discussed the mental side of returning from injury with Shawn Michaels at the WWE Performance Center. According to Owens, trying to work at half speed could become more dangerous because it would force him to overthink movements that normally come naturally.
“I was talking to Shawn Michaels about this yesterday because I’m in the Performance Center every day. We were talking about coming back from injury and how difficult it can be, but it’s also hard for other people to understand that we can’t come back at half speed. Being careful could do more damage because then you’re conscious of everything you do. You might do something that you wouldn’t normally do that would actually cause an injury instead of preventing it.”
Owens pointed to his return at SummerSlam as proof that he wasn’t interested in easing back into action. He threw himself straight into the deep end—quite literally—and showed no desire to strip away the style he has spent 26 years building.
“As you could see if you watched SummerSlam, I dove back in headfirst, for lack of better terms—quite literally. I just don’t know what else I could do. I don’t want to come back as a less exciting version of myself that’s not true to what I’ve done for the last 26 years. I don’t want that. That’s not what I want to leave behind when I’m done.”
Owens then drew a hard line on what would make him call it a career. If his injury ever forces him to slow down enough that fans can see him holding back, he doesn’t believe he should be wrestling at all.
“If it was a thing where I’m in the ring and I feel like I’m slower, more careful and more cautious, and it shows, then I’d probably just say I shouldn’t do this at all.”
That mindset also applies to WWE’s most dangerous stipulations. Owens is still willing to step into ladder, table and cage matches, even if his doctors would rather hear a completely different answer.
“If they want to throw ladder matches at me, table matches, cage matches, whatever, there’s nothing I won’t say yes to—which is probably very discouraging to hear from my doctors, but it is what it is.”
Owens didn’t battle through neck surgery just to return as a shell of the performer fans remember. He is back to wrestle his way, and if the day comes when he can no longer do that, he sounds fully prepared to walk away.
Do you think Kevin Owens should tone down his in-ring style after neck surgery, or is he right to keep performing the only way he knows how? Leave your feedback in the comments.
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