WWE SummerSlam night 2 was originally set to kick off with Sami Zayn and Finn Balor facing off in a singles match to determine the number one contender for the Undisputed WWE Championship. However, Nick Aldis swerved everyone when he added Gunther and Kevin Owens to the match to make it a fatal four way.
Kevin Owens had been out of action since March of 2025 due to a career threatening neck injury, and there was a lot of speculation regarding his future after he underwent neck surgery last summer. Ultimately Owens was able to return and the fans have made it clear that they’re happy to have him back.
While talking about his in-ring return during the SummerSlam post-show, Kevin Owens revealed that there was a time when he didn’t think he would be able to wrestle again again, but he was finally cleared a few weeks ago.
“There was a moment I thought it wasn’t gonna happen, and I definitely did not make peace with it. I was not ready. Getting this taken away from you when you’re not ready is hard. But I had such a great group of people around me to support me through it through it, my wife, my kids, my friends, the WWE medical staff, even you (Big E).”
“I would talk to you a lot, but I was never okay with it. Up to a month ago, I was like, ‘This may be it’. We kept doing scans, it kept not showing what we were hoping for as far as the healing process from the surgery. Then I was like, ‘Well maybe it’s not gonna happen.’ Then a couple of weeks ago they said, ‘We finally saw what we needed to see, you can get back in the ring.’ From there, here I am.”
Coming out of SummerSlam, Kevin Owens is now the number one contender for CM Punk’s Undisputed WWE Championship. We’ll just have to wait and see if he shows up on SmackDown this week to confront the champion.