Kevin Owens has opened up about his ongoing neck injury and how he is not certain about wrestling again.
Originally set to face Randy Orton at WrestleMania 41, Kevin Owens announced on SmackDown that he would not be facing Orton at the biggest show of the year as he required neck surgery and was out of action indefinitely.
While it was previously reported that Owens had undergone the procedure, the former World Champion later clarified that he hadn’t had the surgery and was still waiting. In a new interview with Le10Sport, Owens reiterated that he still hasn’t had the surgery and is assessing how much his neck can improve before the operation:
“I still haven’t had the surgery. There’s a lot of things to consider before the surgery. We’re kind of waiting to see how things progress naturally. There’s no doubt I need surgery, but before we do the surgery, we just have to see how much it can… Not recover, because it won’t recover, but slightly improve without surgery. Afterward, we can make a plan and decide what’s the best thing to do for surgery. But it’s a very slow process. You just have to have patience. I don’t usually have a lot of patience, but this time I have no choice.”
Continuing, Owens added that he was aware there was an issue for several months and admitted he was lucky to have escaped serious injury in his matches at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, which were a ladder match and an unsanctioned match, respectively. Owens also stated that he wanted to get his neck checked and that was when they found the issue:
“I had doubts for several months that there was something really abnormal. On the other hand, it took several months before diagnosing the injury as such. But we knew two days before I made the announcement on Smackdown, that I would not be able to be at WrestleMania and that I had to stop wrestling immediately. In fact, I was extremely lucky not to be injured more seriously in the matches that I had at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber because my neck was already in very bad shape, but we didn’t know. Because the symptoms that I had were not compatible with a neck injury. So, we were looking for why I had these symptoms, but we weren’t looking in the right place because it didn’t make sense. No one would have known that it was my neck that was affected because of those symptoms. Later, someone… Actually, I was the one who suggested that I have my neck checked to see if there was anything. And that’s when it was found. “
Kevin Owens Unsure If He Can Wrestle Again
Due to the severity of neck injuries and the risks associated with competing again after neck surgery, many wrestlers have seen their careers come to a premature end as a result. Addressing a possible return to the ring, Owens admitted that there is no guarantee he would wrestle again:
“It would be, not arrogant, but false to be able to tell you right now that I will absolutely return to the ring, that I will have other fights. I don’t know if that’s true.”
Featured image: WWE
