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Views from the Edge
Reality came crashing down on wresting champ Roman Reigns as he relinquished his title to fight the biggest foe of his life – leukemia.
Reigns got into the wrestling ring Monday (Oct. 22) with his championship belt on his shoulders. He took the microphone and said, “My real name is Joe, and I’ve been living with leukemia for 11 years.”
Reigns said because of the diagnosis, he’s unable to fulfill his duties as champion and must relinquish the WWE Universal Title. Reigns added that it’s best for him to go home and be with family, to focus on his health for now.
Reigns — or Joe Anoa’i, his real name — left his belt in the ring giving up his championship.
He was 22 years old when he received the diagnosis. Anoa’i began wrestling with WWE two years later, in 2010, and tonight he thanked the wrestling promotion for giving him a chance when he was at a low point following a battle to get his leukemia into remission.
Reigns was born Leati Joseph Anoa’i into the legendary Samoan American wrestling family of the same last name. His dad is Sika of the Wild Samoans tag team (with Afa), which collected NWA and WWF championships throughout the 1970s and 80s. His cousin is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Current WWE tag team champions, The Usos, consisting of twin brothers Jimmy and Jey Uso, are also family.
“I want to make one thing clear,” Reigns said in the ring. “By no means is this a retirement speech, because after I’m done whupping leukemia’s ass, I’m coming back home.”
“I want to show the world, show … the world, my family, my friends, my children and my wife, that when life throws a curve ball at me, that I’m the type of man who 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.”
As he left the ring, the crowd cheered and chanted, “Ro-man, Ro-man, Ro-man …”
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