WWE’s Kevin Owens Reveals Neck Injury, Will Miss WrestleMania

There were rumors that Kevin Owens was dealing with an injury, and on tonight’s WWE SmackDown, it turned out to be a worst-case scenario. Owens came out to the ring to address what was going on, revealing that he is in fact dealing with a neck injury that will require surgery. That will take him out of action for a while and will cause him to have to miss WrestleMania 41, where he was supposed to face Randy Orton. He isn’t sure when he’ll be back, but he will never take this for granted. Our thoughts are with Owens and we wish him a speedy recovery.

SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis brought out Owens and gave him the floor. “I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I can say confidently that I gave everything I have when I stepped foot in this ring,” Owens said. Then Owens talked about the toll that all those times in the ring take, and the risk that comes with it.

“There’s a price to pay for that amazing opportunity, and that’s the toll it takes on our bodies. Every girl and guy back there has paid that price, and it seems like now it’s my turn,” Owens said.

“For the last 4 months I’ve been dealing with a pretty serious neck injury, and we didn’t know how serious it was, but we finally figured it out, and now I’m going to get neck surgery,” Owens said. “And the timing couldn’t be worse, because let me tell you, not being able to be in the ring with Randy Orton at WrestleMania really sucks.”

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“I’m really thankful to WWE for letting me come out here and tell you all that, because I really don’t know when I’ll have the privilege of being in front of you guys again,” Owens said. “I’ve learned not to take anything for granted, and I’ll never take this for granted. For now, I just want to say thank you, and I’m sorry guys. Thank you.”

Orton then came out to confront Owens, and you just weren’t sure how this would all play out given everything that had happened between the two over the past year. Orton took a minute to collect his thoughts and went into the ring, but Owens jumped out of the ring and started walking up the ramp.

Aldis then said he hated to do this, but in light of what happened, Orton no longer had a match at WrestleMania. Orton took a second with his head in his hands, and then he hit Aldis with an RKO. Orton looked up at the WrestleMania sign and walked out of the ring.

As for Orton’s WrestleMania status, it seems highly likely that WWE will find a suitable opponent for Orton at WrestleMania because there’s no way he’s missing out on it completely. WWE could quickly shift Orton to another storyline, but there doesn’t seem like enough time to do that effectively. The only thing we could see in that regard is for WWE to move Orton into the Cody Rhodes story with John Cena, building upon the heavily teased story that would bring Rhodes and Orton into direct conflict.

What is more likely is that WWE brings in someone from outside WWE to face Orton, and one person who has been heavily teased for weeks is Aleister Black. Black’s return was likely going to happen after WrestleMania, but with the injury changing plans, we could end up seeing Black return earlier than normal to face Owens. There is also another possibility, which would be to have Rusev make his return to face Orton, but we’ll just have to wait and see if any of that pans out.

What do you hope to see for Orton at WrestleMania? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa.