Kevin Owens Talks Getting Cleared For WWE SummerSlam, Retirement Concerns

Last night at WWE SummerSlam, "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis added two surprise competitors to the number-one contender match between Sami Zayn and Finn Balor, one of whom was Kevin Owens. With his appearance, Owens made his return to the company after being out of action with a serious neck injury for over a year. GUNTHER, who defeated Aldis the night before, was also added to the match, but he couldn't win pulling double duty, as Owens pinned Zayn. Following his victory, Owens opened up about his return to the ring on the SummerSlam Sunday Post-Show, where he shared that he almost didn't believe he was going to wrestle again.

"There was a moment I thought it wasn't going to happen and I definitely did not make peace with it because I was not ready," he said. "But I had such a great group around me to support me through it."

As his support, Owens cited his wife, children, friends, WWE's medical staff, and Big E, who went through his own neck injury which forced him to retire. Throughout his recovery, Owens was not sure that he'd be able to get back into the ring, and he never made peace with the idea, even when that seemed likely.

"Honestly, up to a month ago, I was like: this may be it," Owens stated. "We kept doing scans. It kept not showing exactly what we were hoping for as far as the healing process from the surgery and then I was like, well, I don't know. Maybe it's just not going to happen and then a few weeks ago, we did a scan and we finally saw what we needed to see."

With CM Punk retaining the Undisputed WWE Championship on night one of SummerSlam, Owens will presumably challenge "The Best In The World" for the title in the near future. 

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "WWE" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.