Randy Orton’s fingerprints are all over one of WWE’s most emotional comeback stories this year. Kevin Owens made his return at SummerSlam after more than a year on the sidelines with what had been considered a career-threatening neck injury.
Speaking with Sam Roberts on WWE Now, Owens made clear that Orton was central to getting him back in the ring at all — not through any in-ring assistance, but by pointing him toward the surgeon who made his return possible.
Randy Orton Recommended Dr. Adam Kanter
According to Owens, Orton personally connected him with Dr. Adam Kanter, the same surgeon who had performed the career-saving back surgery that allowed Orton himself to keep wrestling. Owens explained that while WWE has its own trusted medical staff and surgeons, Orton’s firsthand experience with Kanter carried enormous weight in his decision-making process.
I had the best surgeon, Dr. Adam Kanter. I cannot, I just texted him that actually, I cannot thank him enough for what he did,” Owens said. “I will forever be in debt to him.
Owens didn’t shy away from crediting that relationship directly, saying that because Randy Orton could trust Kanter, and given how few people in wrestling he respects more than Orton, he trusted Kanter with his own surgery too.
It’s a level of confidence that speaks to the regard Owens holds for Orton, both as a peer and as someone who had walked a similar road back from a serious injury.
Randy Orton is actually the one who put me in touch with him. WWE has an amazing medical staff; we have amazing surgeons who we work with all the time, right? But Randy had worked with Kanter.
Adam Kanter was the one who did Randy’s back surgery and saved his career, and he recommended that I talk to Adam Kanter as well, get several opinions on how to handle this neck surgery.”
“I decided to go with Adam Kanter, because if Randy Orton could trust him, there’s not a lot of people in wrestling I respect more than Randy, I trust Adam Kanter.
Kevin Owens Opens Up About Difficult Recovery
That trust proved well-placed, but the recovery itself was far from smooth. Owens underwent surgery on July 18, 2025, and described a recovery process filled with repeated scans, as doctors monitored slower-than-expected bone growth and the severity of the damage to his spinal cord.
At one stretch, Owens said, the results simply weren’t coming back the way they were supposed to — a stretch he candidly called scary.
I’m so glad I went in that direction,” Owens continued. “So, as amazing a surgeon as he is, the severity of my injury, and the damage to my spinal cord was so severe that even though they decompressed my spinal cord a lot, fixed a lot in there, there are still chances that I’d have lasting effects on the damage.
Despite the uncertainty, Owens pushed to accelerate his own timeline, driven partly by hopes of returning in time to face John Cena during Cena’s retirement tour. That specific goal didn’t come together in time, but the recovery Orton helped set in motion ultimately got Owens back for his SummerSlam return regardless.
