Roman Reigns Announces He Has Leukemia And Relinquishes Universal Championship
WWE Monday Night Raw got off to a shocking and emotional start with a heartbreaking announcement from Roman Reigns. Roman (real name Joe Anoaʻi) opened the show by announcing that for the past eleven years, he has been living with leukemia. He has been in remission, but it has returned. Therefore, he has decided to relinquish the WWE Universal Championship to return home to fight this disease.
While he has relinquished the title to return home, Roman also said that this was by no means a retirement speech. He said that he had beaten leukemia once, and he will do it again.
Roman Reigns was dubbed "The Face" of the WWE, meaning he is the top guy in the company. It has yet to be determined how the WWE will proceed without Roman at the helm. The company did announce that the Universal Champion at their Crown Jewel event on November 2nd in Saudia Arabia between Brock Lesnar and Braun Stroman.
Say what you will about wrestling. Call it fake or scripted, but this was real. It doesn’t matter what you think about it, this was the most revealing and emotional things that I have ever seen in the WWE. The emotions continued to flow when fellow Shield members, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose met Roman with a tear filled embrace before doing their signature pose
Roman Reigns has proven that he is tough in the ring. You can boo him or you can cheer him, but either way, you have to respect the guy. I'm a grown man, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't tear up while Roman made this announcement. I hate to see Roman go, as he is a HUGE asset to the WWE. However, the important thing here is that Roman fights and beats this disease to return better than ever. He has beat it once, and I have no doubt that he will do it again.
You can see the announcement below:
After an outpouring of encouragement, kind words, and support on social media. Roman tweeted out a heartfelt message to everyone.