Kevin Owens is expected to be out of action for several months due to a neck injury that will require surgery. Although news of the injury first began circulating on Friday morning, Owens confirmed it himself later that night during a promo on SmackDown. His absence comes just weeks before he was scheduled to face Randy Orton in a one-on-one match at WrestleMania 41.

According to PWInsider.com, there is talk backstage that Owens is likely heading for fusion surgery. Owens opened up about the injury during an appearance on My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox.

“I am okay, man. I have a great support system. You know, my family is great. You know, my co-workers are great, everything. It sucks, man, just not getting to wrestle Randy Orton at WrestleMania really sucks. Yeah, that is the part that bugs me the most,” Owens admitted. “At least, you know, I know I will come back at the very least. I really hope I come back, you know, I guess there is, I never take anything for granted in what we do, so who knows, but pretty likely to come back. And then maybe we could do it eventually. This year was going to be me versus Randy Orton at WrestleMania, which is huge to me. I take comfort in knowing that I did it last year. I was in the ring with him at WrestleMania last year, yeah, but this year we would not have had the other annoying guy in it. That would have been nice, but it is okay.”

Owens expressed his frustration over the injury being leaked before he could share it on his own terms. “Yeah, it really annoys me. Actually, I woke up to seeing that it was already leaked, and it really upsets me, especially because I know that whoever leaked it is some office employee that should not know this shit in the first place,” he said. “And I told people, like, this is gonna leak. They are like, ‘No, no, we are keeping it tight knit.’ But then yesterday, obviously some departments had to find out for some reasons. And now someone who should not know this stuff found out, and it went where it should not, and now they took away my right to tell people because now everybody knows already, so I know.”

As for when he could return to the ring, Owens has yet to receive a clear answer from his doctors. “No, I do not know. I have not talked to, you know, the surgeon or anything like that yet. I am going to do all that on Monday. I mean, I know that most of the people that have gone through similar things of probably, you know, six months to eight months to a year, yeah, so I would assume it within that range. But I do not, I do not really know. Like I said, it is all really new right now.”