Roman Reigns Relinquishes Championship Due to Cancer

Tiffany Windham via Flickr

WWE

Roman Reigns Relinquishes Universal Championship Due to Leukemia

In a shocking turn of events, Roman Reigns has relinquished his Universal Championship. This is because of leukemia, which Reigns has been living with for more than a decade.

Moments ago, Monday Night RAW opened with a promo from Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. Reigns went off script by calling himself Joe. Joseph Anoa’i, of course, is Roman’s real name. He further went on to say he was a liar for saying he will always be a defending champion. He said he couldn’t show up to RAW on a consistent schedule. This is all due to his leukemia coming back. This was an unexpected announcement that no one could have seen coming. It had been reported that Reigns was injured, but the thought of cancer never crossed anyone’s minds.

Leukemia is a type of cancer that effects the blood stream. Reigns says he was diagnosed eleven years ago. He says he was able to put it into remission very quickly after diagnosis. Unfortunately, his cancer has come back.

Roman Reigns has stated he is not retiring. He says he will be back soon after “kicking leukemia’s ass again”. Reigns promises the WWE Universe will see him again very, very soon. After leaving the ring, Reigns embraced his SHIELD teammates before leaving the stage area.

With this announcement, the state of the main event of upcoming WWE Network special Crown Jewel is unknown. Since Reigns vacated the championship, there most likely won’t be a championship match.

It doesn’t have to be said, but cancer sucks, plain and simple. For lack of better words, we wish Roman kicks cancer’s ass and makes his comeback. He is a huge part of Monday Night RAW. The brand will not be the same without him. We at TSJ101Sports send our thoughts and prayers to the Anoa’i family. For Roman, we hope he’s back in a WWE ring very soon.

To donate to the American Cancer Society click here.

Photo credit to Tiffany Windham via Flickr