Kevin Owens is officially back in the ring, and for a while, he wasn’t sure that day would ever come.
At WWE SummerSlam, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis announced that both Gunther and a returning Owens had been added to the WWE Championship No. 1 Contender’s Match.
Speaking during the SummerSlam Sunday post-show (see video below), Owens revealed he was only medically cleared to compete a few weeks ago after fearing his career might be over.
“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,” Owens said.
He credited his family, friends, WWE’s medical staff, and Big E for helping him through the uncertainty, while admitting he never truly accepted the possibility that he was finished.
“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.’”
Fortunately, the outlook changed just weeks later.
“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.”
Owens also took time during the post-show to recognize AEW personality Rebel (Tanea Brooks), who is currently battling terminal ALS.
“There’s somebody called Tanea Brooks, who’s known to wrestling fans as Rebel. She has not wrestled here but some things are bigger than wrestling.”
He continued by praising her strength throughout her fight.
“She’s currently battling ALS and the way she’s doing it is so incredible, and I looked at her and what she was going through and the way she powered through it and it was truly inspirational.”
For those interested, you can check out our complete WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night 2 Results here at WrestlingHeadlines.com.
