Is Kevin Owens legitimately injured? Concerning update on current champion's real-life injury and future on WWE RAW

WWE Superstar Kevin Owens was booked in a brutal beatdown segment on RAW and was later shown hurt, raising concerns over the legitimacy of his injury.

KO appeared at ringside during Sami Zayn's title match against Dominik Mysterio with the latter's NXT North American Championship on the line. He was sent backstage by the match official, followed by Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley. A little while later, The Judgment Day members returned with an inured Owens rolling on the entrance ramp.

The champion was seen holding his arms in a backstage segment which raised questions about him being potentially injured in real life. The latest backstage reports confirmed those fears, as Kevin Owens is seemingly battling a rib injury.

According to Dave Meltzer, KO worked through the injury for quite some time as he wanted to fulfill his obligations before taking time off to rest. WWE is expected to address his health situation in the next few days. Meltzer was quoted as saying:

"It’s a fractured rib. So the story, he's actually been working on it for a while, and it was just one of those things where they were waiting for a time to finish up with everything he'd finish up (…) He's gonna get rest. I don't know how long, and I don't know what the status of the tag team title is. I'm sure that that will probably all be addressed in the next couple of days, but it was legit. He's been working on a legit injury. So that's the basic gist of the story there." (H/T WrestlingNews)

The reports have suggested that Kevin Owens will be written off RAW following his injury. Thus, we might not see the reigning Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions put their gold on the line at SummerSlam on August 5, 2023.

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Will Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have to drop the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship?

KO and Zayn defeated The Usos at WrestleMania 39 earlier this year to become the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. Since then, the duo has delivered great matches across RAW and SmackDown in both title and non-title bouts. Many fans believe their dream run deserves a better ending than dropping the title due to an injury.

But if Kevin Owens isn't cleared to compete in the next few weeks, we might see him and Zayn sadly vacate their title. This could lead to a massive tag team tournament to determine the final contenders for the gold. It will be interesting to see how Kevin Owens' injury will impact the tag team division.