Roman Reigns Relinquishes Title After Disclosing His Diagnosis

Sad news for the wrestling universe. Roman Reigns made a shocking announcement during this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. He has now relinquished the Universal Championship, after announcing his leukemia has come back after being in remission.

Why Did Roman Relinquish his Title?

Monday Night Raw started with a highly emotional speech from Roman Reigns. While the crowd did their usual Roman booing, it soon became clear Roman was not delivering a regular promo.

During his segment on Monday Night Raw, Roman disclosed that his leukemia had returned. Roman was diagnosed with leukemia 11 years ago, but went into remission.

When giving his speech, Roman Reigns thanked the WWE Universe and the WWE for giving him a shot after leukemia ruined his chances at a professional football career.

“It didn’t matter if you cheered me or you booed me, you’ve always reacted to me and that’s the most important thing and for that I have to say thank you so much” – Roman Reigns

The segment of Monday Night Raw ended with his Shield buddies, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, meeting Roman up the ramp. A clearly visibly upset Ambrose and overwhelmed Rollins gave Roman a hug.

Reigns Says It Is Not a Retirement Speech

Despite being dealt a major health blow, Roman Reigns made a professional and true champion speech in the ring. Being diagnosed with a condition such as leukemia is difficult enough, but having to announce it in front of millions is even more difficult.

I commend Roman for speaking in public. Even though he did not have to, the speech was certainly a platform to give hope to other leukemia and cancer sufferers.

During his announcement, Roman made it very clear that this would not be a retirement speech. He vowed to return to the ring soon.

 “I will beat this and I will be back so you will see me very, very soon.” – Roman Reigns

It Has Broken Everyone’s Heart

Roman’s announcement has hit the WWE Universe and WWE staff hard. Nobody saw this coming, especially since Roman looks so healthy.

In addition to thousands of social media messages, Roman also received a lot of support from the legends backstage including Triple H, Paul Heyman, Nia Jax, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, and Shawn Michaels.

After his speech, Roman received countless tweets from fans and fellow superstars, showing their support for the WWE wrestler. Here are some of my favorites and my own message of support for Roman.

Support messages for Roman are currently going through #ThankYouRoman. Be sure to send your messages of support too! We here at Ringside are heartbroken, but we have no doubt Roman will take his fighting spirit and whoop leukemia’s ass!

Want to stay updated? Sign up to our newsletter.