Roman Reigns opened Monday Night Raw this week with the heartbreaking revelation that he had been diagnosed with leukemia. As the show went on WWE Superstars from the past and present took to social media to offer Reigns their condolences and wish him the best of luck in his recovery. In a special moment uploaded to WWE’s YouTube account, many members of the locker room also greeted and embraced Reigns as he made his way backstage.
Some of the wrestlers seen in the video include Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Paul Heyman, Nia Jax (who is also a member of the Anao’i Family alongside Reigns), Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, and Titus O’Neil. You can watch the video below:
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EXCLUSIVE: Moments after announcing that his returning leukemia has forced him to relinquish the Universal Championship, @WWERomanReigns is met with an outpouring of support backstage. #Raw pic.twitter.com/JRv0iYLILJ
— WWE (@WWE) October 23, 2018
Reigns announced that he would have to relinquish the WWE Universal Championship, but that he had every intention of returning to professional wrestling once he had beaten the cancer.
“You know the deal, you know how life is,” Reigns said. “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.”
“But I want to make one thing clear, by no means is this a retirement speech,” he added. “Because after I’m done whooping leukemia’s ass once again I’m coming back home. And when I do, it’s not just going to be about titles and being on top, no it’s about a purpose. I am 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 am 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. Because I will beat this and I will be back and you will see me very, very soon.”
WWE announced later in the evening that a new champion would be crowned at the Crown Jewel event on November 2nd in Saudi Arabia. Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar, who were originally booked to challenge Reigns in a triple threat, will now square off in a one-on-one match.
