Roman Reigns made his triumphant return to singles action on Sunday night at defeated Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 35 at MetLife Stadium. The bout marked Reigns’ first one-on-one match since returning from his battle with leukemia in February. Reigns won clean in the middle of the ring after hitting McIntyre with a spear.
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Back in October Reigns first revealed to the WWE that he needed to step away from the company to due to an ongoing battle with leukemia. Reigns was first diagnosed while he was in college, but he had managed to keep it a secret for the past 11 years while it was in remission. Upon its return, Reigns had to relinquish the Universal Championship and stepped away from wrestling for what was then an undermined amount of time. Thankfully, Reigns was back on WWE television on the Feb. 25 episode of Monday Night Raw to reveal the cancer was in remission once again, and he was ready to get back in the ring.
Reigns reunited with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose as The Shield to face McIntyre, Baron Corbin and Bobby Lashley at Fastlane in March. “The Hounds of Justice” came out on top, but McIntyre quickly made it clear he wasn’t done with Reigns. The two were initially booked for a one-on-one match on Raw the following night, but McIntyre attacked Reigns before the match and appeared to give him a concussion. Ambrose fought in McIntyre’s place but wound up getting destroyed in a Falls Count Anywhere and Last Man Standing match in the following weeks. McIntyre eventually challenged Reigns to a WrestleMania match, claiming beating him would be tougher than beating cancer. Undeterred, Reigns accepted his challenge.
Eight championships changed hands throughout the show. The newly-crowned champions included Universal Champion Seth Rollins, , Cruiserweight Champion Tony Nese, Raw Tag Team Champions Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The IIconics, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and SmackDown and Raw Tag Team Champion Becky Lynch.
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