WWE veteran Kevin Owens discussed his recovery from a neck injury in an interview with FACES Magazine.
Owens said, “Yeah, everything was so quick. That’s the craziest part. By the time they told me I could get back in the ring, that was mid-July. I cut my vacation short to get back in the ring as soon as I could. There’s a process to get medically cleared, and the longer you’ve been out, the longer that process is, depending on the injury, the surgery and all of that stuff. Somehow, again, this is one of these cases where I’m kind of driving everybody nuts, and I kept asking how long until I’m cleared, how can I fast track it, what I can do to make it as soon as possible, this and that. And they were like well, there’s no shortcuts here. If this needs to happen, then it needs to happen. Usually, it takes about four weeks to get all of this done, I did it in nine days. I basically took everything they wanted me to do, and instead of doing one thing one day, one thing the next day, one thing a few days later, I just did everything back-to-back-to-back. And, at the end of that they’re like ‘alright, you’re cleared.’ Then I got the call about SummerSlam, and everything happened so quickly between the time I was told I can get back in the ring, and the time I was at SummerSlam, there was maybe two weeks.”
On his relationship with CM Punk:
“No. You know, some people, you’re just not compatible with, and he’s one of them. I’m sure he’d happily say the same, like, we don’t gel.”
On challenging Punk for the title in Toronto:
“You know, I don’t know if it’s so much home-field advantage, honestly, because he’s obviously extremely popular, and the crowd might be split; the crowd might be more on his side, I really don’t know. I’m Canadian, yes, and Toronto’s always been incredible for me, but, you know, he’s a very, very popular guy. The reason I picked Toronto for the match was because not only is it an amazing crowd, but that’s where I had my last match, where I, what I thought would be my last match. And I remember thinking, if it is my last match, I really couldn’t have asked for a better place to have it, and a better opponent to do it with.”
On having his family present for the title bout:
“So now, to get to come back and have a show so soon in Toronto, and in such a major match, is great. Also, my parents will get to be there, my family will get to be there, and that wouldn’t have been the case if the match happened somewhere else, because my mom, through her health issues over the last several years, her ability to fly and go to shows that are far away, it’s just not the case anymore. But Toronto, it’s a manageable drive from Montreal. So, my parents will be able to be there, and there was a while where I didn’t know if my parents would ever get to see me in the ring again. And now, they’re going to get to see it, and it’s a big match, and it’s potentially a match where I could win the Undisputed World Title in front of them, which, when I won the Universal Title, my wife, my kids, my parents, they were all watching on TV, but they weren’t there live. So, if I was able to do that with them live, after everything we’ve been through, it would just make everything so much, just so much better.”
On NXT talents that fans should look forward to seeing:
“It’s very hard to nail one down, and you know, I’m going to echo what Grayson Waller said on NXT a few weeks ago. There’s a lot of very talented people in NXT, but the women of NXT are kind of whipping the dude’s asses right now as far as in-ring work and performance, so I don’t want to just single out one, but there’s a few guys to keep an eye on for sure. I think the people that go see that NXT show, what they’ll walk away from talking about is going to be the women on the show because they’re all pretty excellent. The future is bright for the women’s division in WWE when you see the girls that are in NXT and their work.”
On his memories of wrestling in Ottawa:
“Yeah, I had so much fun in Ottawa for so many years with C4 Wrestling, and it was a special place. I was really happy to learn that Smackdown is also going to be a part of the Ottawa show this Monday, because I didn’t know that until recently, and I love being in Ottawa. We had RAW in Ottawa a few years ago, I got to be a part of it, that was awesome. So, I’m glad to be a part of it, because like you said, Ottawa was a big part of my career before WWE, so anytime I get to come back there, it’s another part of home where I get to perform, and it’s great. I’m really glad I get to do that.”
