Kevin Owens Says WWE Doctors Missed Signs of Serious Neck Injury for Weeks

Kevin Owens was already pulling off high-impact performances in WWE earlier this year—but he had no idea he was doing it with a neck injury that could’ve ended his career.

During an interview with Le10Sport, Owens opened up about the terrifying moment he finally got clarity—and how close he came to a career-ending situation without knowing it.

The former Universal Champion revealed that for months, he’d been feeling strange symptoms, but no one—including WWE doctors—could figure out the source. What made things even riskier? He was still wrestling through it at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, unknowingly putting himself in serious danger.

Owens said the true diagnosis didn’t come until right before WrestleMania season, and it was only because he took matters into his own hands.

“In fact, I was extremely lucky not to be more seriously injured in the matches I did at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber because my neck was already in very bad condition, but we didn’t know,” Owens explained.

“The symptoms I had weren’t consistent with a neck injury. So we were trying to figure out why I had these symptoms, but we were looking in the wrong place because it didn’t make sense. No one could have guessed it was my neck that was affected because of those symptoms.”

The turning point came after a singles match against Rey Mysterio on the January 17 episode of SmackDown. That’s when the symptoms really started to appear—but even then, it took weeks to connect the dots. Eventually, Owens had to speak up and ask for his neck to be examined.

“Actually, the symptoms started to appear after my match against Rey Mysterio, which took place on the January 17 episode of SmackDown,” he added.

Just days before he pulled out of WrestleMania and broke the news to fans on SmackDown, doctors finally confirmed the neck issue. That moment changed everything, and Owens hasn’t wrestled since.

Kevin Owens still hasn’t undergone surgery and admits he doesn’t know if he’ll ever return to the ring. What started as mysterious symptoms nearly turned into a silent career-ending injury—and he barely caught it in time.

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