Kevin Owen Undergoes Successful Neck Surgery (WWE News)

Kevin Owens underwent successful neck surgery on Friday.

Jul 20, 2025 July 20th, 2025

With WWE's Kevin Owens forced out of action earlier this year due to neck issues, there's the positive news that KO has now undergone successful neck surgery.

For Owens, he was forced out of his WrestleMania 41 match against Randy Orton just a matter of weeks before that PLE when it became apparent how severe his neck issues were. While it was expected that the Canadian would be out for an extended period of time, rumours of him undergoing surgery as early as April proved false. Instead, a recent appearance on Cody Rhodes' What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast had the former WWE Universal Champion discuss how he was currently waiting for surgery.

In an update on this matter, Fightful Select reports that Kevin Owens underwent neck surgery this past Friday. Not just that, but the surgery is said to have been a success.

Those in WWE who Fightful spoke to at the time of the KO injury news expected him to miss WrestleMania 41 and WrestleMania 42. Obviously, 'Mania 41 has been and gone, and it seems likely that WrestleMania 42 will be too soon to expect an Owens return. On that front, one source told Fightful that the usual recovery time for such a procedure is one year at the minimum. Considering the surgery was only a matter of days ago, that would give a loose return time of this time next year.

Of course, that recovery could take a little longer or possibly even a little shorter, and right now it's a case of simply seeing how Kevin heals up.

As ever, all the best in his recovery to Kevin Owens from all of us here at WhatCulture Wrestling.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

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