WWE's Kevin Owens Reveals When Neck Was Injured: 'Regular Match, No Hardcore Things'

Late last week, WWE star Kevin Owens revealed that he's dealing with a serious neck injury, requiring surgery and forcing him to take an indefinite amount of time away from wrestling. The timing couldn't have been much worse. Owens will now be forced to miss his scheduled bout against Randy Orton at WWE WrestleMania 41.

Appearing on "My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox," the performer detailed the circumstances surrounding his injury. Some online have speculated that Owens may have been hurt during one of his two harrowing matches against Sami Zayn or Cody Rhodes over the last several months, but he pushed back on that narrative.

"I know that some of my detractors — and there's plenty out there — will say, 'See, this is why he shouldn't do this stuff,'" Owens said. "But I am telling you, it happened in a regular match. No hardcore things, nothing."

Owens wrestled Zayn in a wild unsanctioned match at WWE Elimination Chamber, which included the frequent use of steel chairs and Owens taking a Blue Thunder Bomb through a table onto the concrete floor. He wrestled Rhodes exactly one month prior to that, in a ladder match at the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble, and Owens took some hard drops onto the ladders throughout. Those matches might have looked scary, but Owens was adamant that his injury took place before the Royal Rumble.

Looking back, the wrestler believes two routine moves during a match in January caused the injury. It was a pair of basic maneuvers that Owens said he's done "a million times" before. Unfortunately, he immediately felt discomfort in his neck.

Just a month before that, Owens had gotten a full-body MRI on his own volition, to check on the state of his body. While his spine had some mild stenosis, it was in the expected range for a professional wrestler, and there were no glaring issues that needed to be addressed. He's now completed another MRI in the wake of the injury, which is what alerted Owens and WWE doctors to its severity.

As far as his recent matches against Zayn and Rhodes, Owens offered a reminder that a wrestler's job is to convince the audience that what they're seeing is real. Though he knows not everyone will believe him, Owens felt completely safe during the matches and never felt any pain or discomfort in his neck. Still, he admitted that he would not have taken part in either match if he had known the severity of his injury.

"To a degree, it had to be wear and tear of 25 years," Owens continued. "This injury has happened to guys who have done far less dangerous things than me throughout their career and it happened way sooner, you know? Sometimes, it's just bad luck."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "My Mom's Basement" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.