This WWE Superstar faces the biggest fight of his life, and fans finally behind him
Bigger than his fight with Brock Lesnar, bigger than his fight with Braun Strowman, WWE Universal Champ Roman Reigns is gearing for the biggest fight of his life, and this time WWE fans are behind him, supporting and cheering him 110-percent.
To open WWE Monday Night Raw (Oct. 22) on the USA Network from Providence, R.I., Reigns made a shocking announcement that he was relinquishing his WWE Universal title because of his battle with leukemia.
Reigns told the live crowd and millions more watching from home: “You know how life is. Life is not fair. It’s not all peaches and cream. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball, and right now the best thing for me to do is to go home, to focus on my family and my health.”
Does that mean retirement for the highly decorated 33-year-old WWE Superstar?
No tears, he answered that confidently and strongly: “...I want to make one thing clear. By no means is this a retirement speech [shaking his head no]. Because after I’m done whooping leukemia’s ass once again, I’m coming back home. [Crowd cheers wildly].
“And when I do, it’s not going just be about titles and being on top. No. It’s about a purpose. I’m coming back because I want to show all of you, the whole world; I want to show my family, my friends, my children and my wife that when life throws a curve ball at me, I’m the type of man that will stand in that batter’s box. I will crowd the plate. I will choke up, and I will swing for the fences every single time.”
Reigns was diagnosed with leukemia at age 22.
In a WWE press release, it noted Reigns had been in remission since late 2008.
The release also said Reigns is taking his battle with leukemia public in an effort to raise awareness and funds for research in order to advance cures for the disease.
Reigns (Joe Anoa’i), who grew up in Pensacola, starred in high school football at Pensacola Catholic and Escambia high schools. He continued to shine on the gridiron in college competing for Georgia Tech where he majored in management. He played in the CFL, before opting to go into the family business.
Reigns hails form a famed wrestling family. He is the son of Sika Anoaʻi (Sika of the WWE Hall of Fame Wild Samoans tag team). His uncle is Afa of that famous tag team. His brother Rosey, who died on April 17, 2017, also wrestled. As a member of the Anoaʻi family, he is a cousin to WWE Superstars the Usos and former pro wrestlers Yokozuna, Rikishi, Umaga, The Tonga Kid, and The Rock.
Family, The Rock even appeared with Roman Reigns when Reigns won the WWE Royal Rumble in Philadelphia in 2015.
Reigns, who fared well in WWE’s developmental FCW (pre-NXT), reached the next level when he teamed with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins to form The Shield. That faction created a buzz throughout the WWE Universe. When Reigns split from the group, he was elevated to main event heights, but crowds, mainly males, boo’d him, ala John Cena. Kids and women loved him. Male fans did not.
After the stunning announcement by Reigns on Raw, one fan wrote on comicbook.com:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">EVEN IF WE BOO YOU <a href="https://twitter.com/WWERomanReigns?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WWERomanReigns</a> , we still LOVE YOU <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Raw?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Raw</a> <a href="https://t.co/mZuzDLioK3">https://t.co/mZuzDLioK3</a></p>— LT. Revan (Sundering Cole) (@LieutenantRevan) <a href="https://twitter.com/LieutenantRevan/status/1054529692919848961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And this one by @JoeMathew5
“@WWERomanReigns Like you said, it’s your faith that pulled you thru all your adversities. I boo’d you every Monday Night, but I’m cheering for you today. It took guts to do what you did and prayers going up for you and your family.”
Also some reaction from my Facebook post about it.
Erik Everett: “That sucks he has cancer, love him or hate him he entertains us, Get well soon Roman.”
Roman O. Garcia Jr.: “Crazy that in this business he was able to keep that info so concealed, prayers are with him in this battle and hope to see him back in the ring again sooner rather than later.”
With this leave of absence by Reigns, that means the main event at the controversial Crown Jewel show in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 2 will be Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) against Braun Strowman for the vacant WWE Universal title via pay-per-view and WWE Network.
What’s next after that. Drew McIntyre comes to mind.
We’ll see. In the mean time, get well Roman Reigns. Come back Shield strong.
Here is a profile interview I conducted with him when he wrestled for FCW, WWE’s developmental preceding NXT.
For more, click RomanReignsInterviewPart2
And more, click RomanReignsInterviewPart3
Plus, click RomanReignsInterviewPart5
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This story was originally published October 22, 2018 at 10:46 PM.