On the October 15th episode of Raw, Roman Reigns wrestled in the main event. A week later, he revealed a leukemia diagnosis and relinquished his Universal Championship. So the question is, when did Reigns find out, and when did he tell Vince McMahon that he would be forced to leave WWE?
Videos by ComicBook.com
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, McMahon learned of Reigns’ diagnosis on October 18th. McMahon relayed the information to his WWE staff the next day and they immediately discussed the company-wide adjustment that needed to happen in Reigns’ absence.
The number of people who knew about Reigns’ situation was kept to a strict minimum, so when he addressed the crowd and cameras, most people backstage were hearing the news for the first time. Sasha Banks just confirmed this during an interview on Conversations With Maria Menounos.
“I remember getting ready for my match and walking backstage and everyone just stopped and was watching some kind of screen of any sort that they could see,” she recalled. “And I’m like ‘what’s going on? what-what did he just tell us? Everyone found out with that promo, the whole world. No-one backstage knew.”
The details of Reigns’ leukemia are still ambiguous, but a new report suggests he’ll miss at least a year while fighting the disease. As for the vacant Universal Championship, Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar will go one-on-one at Crown Jewel on November 2nd for the right to assume WWE’s throne.
For Reigns, getting yanked out of action by leukemia marks a heartbreaking point in his already remarkable WWE career. Reigns arc as a superstar is unique to say the least. As McMahon’s pick to lead the company, fans resisted Reigns upon finding out he had been anointed. For the past four years, WWE has tried a number of methods to endear Reigns to all audiences. However they could never sustain an undeniable streak of popularity; instead, Reigns was the most polarizing figure in WWE history. But now all of that is gone. Whatever fans were holding against Reigns has dissolved in favor of love and support. When Reigns does come back, he’s likely to be the most beloved star on the roster.
No one knows when we’ll see Reigns again on WWE television. But his last appearance on Raw cold go down as one of the most memorable moments in WWE history.
“You know the deal, you know how life is,” Reigns said to open Raw. “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. Because after I’m done whooping leukemia’s ass once again I’m coming back home,” Reigns continued. “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.”
