Kevin Owens has admitted that he wanted to be back in a WWE ring in 2025 so that he could face John Cena one last time.
After more than a year away due to requiring neck surgery, Owens made his return at SummerSlam night 2. Winning a 4-way match, KO is now the number one contender to the WWE Championship, which is currently held by CM Punk.
Following SummerSlam, Owens told Sam Roberts of WWE Now that he had his surgery in July and hoped to be back later that year. However, medical staff told him that it would not be possible. Owens also added that he had further scans at 6 and 9 months after surgery, but he still wasn’t able to get cleared:
“July 18th, 2025 was my surgery. Usually, six months after the surgery is the first scan. I start asking them to do a scan at three months because when I was 20 years old, I had ACL surgery and most people take nine months to get back from that. Took me three, so I’m like, this is the same thing. In three months, my bones are fused. Because in my head, I’m like, ‘I’m gonna come back before John Cena retires so I can wrestle him one last time,’ and they humored me and did the scan. They’re like, ‘Yeah, not happening.’ I did another scan at four months because I wanted to come back in Montreal in January. They’re like, ‘We can’t do it.’ Did another scan at six months which is when we were supposed to do it, and they’re like, ‘It’s still not right.’ So then they’re like, ‘We’re not doing a scan for another long while.’ We did one at nine months; still wasn’t good. So by that point, I’m like, ‘Man… maybe it just won’t happen.’
Continuing, Owens said that July of 2026 was when things started looking more positive, so he cut his holiday short to get back in the ring:
So then finally I did a scan beginning of July, and they called me and said, ‘Look, we saw enough progress and enough bone growth that we’re comfortable enough letting you get back in the ring to see how you feel, and we’ll go from there.’ So I got back in the ring for the very first time on July 18th this year, one year to the day after my surgery and that’s only because I was on vacation in France with my family and when they told me I could get back in the ring, I cut the trip short by one day so I could come back and get in the ring on July 18th so I could at least mentally go, okay, it wasn’t more than a year, and I had Tara (Halaby), one of the physical trainers at the Performance Center come in on a day off just so I could get in the ring,” Owens laughed.
Kevin Owens Had A Memorable Debut Segment With John Cena
Owens made his main roster debut in 2015 by attacking John Cena as part of Cena’s open challenge. From there, Owens defeated Cena clean at Elimination Chamber while still reigning as the NXT Champion.
Cena retired in late 2025 with a loss to Gunther. Owens was one of the opponents many fans hoped Cena would face. Unfortunately, Owens took time away to undergo neck surgery following Elimination Chamber 2025.
H/t to Fightful.
Featured image: WWE
