Report: Kevin Owens Needs To Undergo Knee Surgery

Kevin Owens was involved in one of the most memorable moments of an action-packed WWE Raw, but the post-match attack from Bobby Lashley may have only been done to help write KO off television for an upcoming knee surgery.

The WWE Universe is used to jeering Kevin Owens, who used to cut every corner to get to the top. Lately, Owens has been a more sympathetic figure, getting thrown off ladders and steel cages by Braun Strowman, who is now a heel, and all of the near-misses and huge tumbles even caused KO to briefly quit WWE before blindsiding Bobby Lashley last month.

On this week’s episode of Raw, Lashley got his revenge – and then some. Not only did he defeat Owens in a back-and-forth match that was marred by Lio Rush’s odious (but effective) live commentary, but he also attacked Owens’s knee in gruesome fashion following the completion of the match.

WWE has used this to create an angle stating that Lashley, now a remorseless heel, injured Owens’s knee during this attack.

POST Wrestling’s John Pollock reports that the post-match attack on Owens was designed to write “The Prizefighter” off of WWE television for an undetermined period of time. Per Pollock, Owens needs to undergo knee surgery and isn’t dealing with a “major injury” that would cause him to miss a lengthy period of time.

Owens’s best friend, Sami Zayn, is out for several more months, needing surgery after tearing both of his rotator cuffs. It will be interesting to see how WWE times their returns, since they were inseparable as a heel duo after Owens converted Zayn to the darkside.

Interestingly enough, it seemed like Owens and Lashley executed a double-turn in Chicago when Lashley attacked Owens. Lashley was ruthless and Rush was annoying, cementing their standing as a heel partnership on Raw. But Owens also came across as sympathetic, showing heart in defeat and garnering more positive reactions from the crowd. WWE arenas have been warm to Owens over the past few months, and it hasn’t just been Montreal either.

That will be a development to watch closely whenever Owens makes his return from this surgery. Hopefully, nothing serious comes of this and Owens is able to get time to rest, rehabilitate, and come back as brilliant as ever. Whenever he’s off television, he is missed by just about every fan. It seems like the WWE Universe is ready to cheer him, so we’ll see if something comes of Lashley’s actions on this week’s Raw. A post-injury babyface run for Owens would be fresh and exciting, to say the least.

For now, Owens is back to trolling us all on social media by pretending to quit, and it’s honestly one of wrestling’s best online gags.