PWMania.com previously reported that WWE veteran Kevin Owens made a triumphant return to the company, receiving a huge pop from fans at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This took place during the opening moments of SummerSlam Night Two on Sunday, following an announcement by SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis about the addition of a fourth member to the Undisputed WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Match.
This marked Owens’ first in-ring appearance since March 2025. In April of that year, he disclosed that he was dealing with a neck injury and subsequently pulled out of his scheduled match against Randy Orton at WrestleMania 41.
In an interview with Sam Roberts on WWE Now, Owens talked about various topics, including how he made his return to the ring exactly one year after undergoing neck surgery. He shared that he had scans done three and four months post-surgery, hoping to return in time to face 17-time World Champion John Cena during Cena’s Retirement Tour. Unfortunately, his medical team did not clear him for that match.
Owens also mentioned that he had pushed for a return to WWE TV in Montreal earlier this year. After undergoing another scan, he learned that his recovery progress still wasn’t sufficient for a comeback. Ultimately, he received medical clearance following another scan in early July. Owens decided to cut short a family trip so he could return to the ring on July 18th, the same day he had surgery the previous year.
Owens said, “July 18, 2025, was my surgery. Usually, six months after the surgery is the first scan; I started 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; it 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 that I can wrestle him one more time.’ They humored me and did the scan, and they were like, ‘Yeah, not happening.’ They did another scan at four months because I wanted to come back in Montreal in January, and they’re like, ‘We can’t do it.’
Then, another scan at six months, which is when they were supposed to do it, they were like, ‘It’s still not right.’ Then they were, ‘We’re not doing a scan for another long while.’ We did another one at nine months; it still wasn’t good. At that point, I was like, ‘It might not… Maybe it just won’t happen,’ you know what I mean?
So, then, finally, I did a scan at the beginning of July, and they called me and said, ‘Look, we saw enough progress and enough bone growth that we’re comfortable letting you get back in the ring and see how you feel and we’ll go from there.’ I got back in the ring for the very first time on July 18 this year, one year to the day after my surgery.”
You can check out Owens’ comments in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
