Roman Reigns Battling Leukemia, Relinquishes Universal Championship

Roman Reigns opened Raw tonight by shockingly announcing that he is battling leukemia and would need to relinquish the Universal Championship. Reigns was originally diagnosed with leukemia in 2007 and it had been in remission since 2008.

A transcript of what he said is below.

I feel like I owe everybody an apology. For months, maybe even a full year, I’ve come out here, spoken as Roman Reigns and I said a lot of things. I said I’d be here every single week. I said I’d be a fighting champion. I said I was gonna be consistent and I was gonna be a workhorse. But that’s all lies.

It’s a lie because the reality is, my real name is Joe. And I’ve been living with leukemia for 11 years. And unfortunately, it’s back. And because the leukemia is back, I cannot fulfill my role. I can’t be that fighting champion. And I’m gonna have to relinquish the Universal Championship.

And I’m not gonna lie, I’ll take every prayer you can send my way, but I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m not looking for you to feel bad for me. Because I have faith. When I was 22 years old, I was diagnosed with this. And very quickly, I was able to put it in remission, but I’m not gonna lie, that was the hardest time in my life. I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have a home. And I had a baby on the way. And football was done with me.

But you wanna know who gave me a chance? The team that gave me a chance was WWE. And when I finally made it to the main roster and I was on the road, they put me in front of all of you. The WWE Universe. And to be honest, y’all have made my dreams come true. And it didn’t matter if you cheered me, it didn’t matter if you booed me. You’ve always reacted to me and that is the most important thing. And for that, I have to say thank you so much.

But I wanna 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. And when I do, it’s not gonna just be about titles and being on top. No, it’s about a purpose. I’m coming back because I wanna show all of you, the whole world. I wanna 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, so you will see me very, very soon.

Once again, thank you so much. God bless you and I love you. Believe that.

The crowd chanted “Thank you, Roman” as Reigns placed the Universal Championship in the middle of the ring and walked down the ramp. He was met at the entrance by Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, who looked visibly emotional. Rollins looked like he was fighting back tears, and all three did the Shield fist.

WWE Statement

WWE released this statement:

STAMFORD, Conn., October 22, 2018 – Tonight on Monday Night Raw, Roman Reigns (aka Joe Anoa’i) announced that he is relinquishing the WWE Universal Championship and taking a leave of absence from WWE as he once again fights leukemia, which had been in remission since late 2008. Reigns is taking his battle with leukemia public in an effort to raise awareness and funds for research in order to advance cures for the disease.

Universal Championship

The Universal Championship will now be decided in a singles match between Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel.

It will now be ONE-ON-ONE for the vacant #UniversalChampionship at #WWECrownJewel as The #MonsterAmongMen @BraunStrowman goes one-on-one with #TheBeast @BrockLesnar! #RAW pic.twitter.com/JZmsvJVUpQ

— WWE (@WWE) October 23, 2018