During a recent appearance to promote the Evolution PPV, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were asked to share their thoughts on the shocking news that Roman Reigns has had to vacate the Universal Championship after being diagnosed with leukaemia. After praising the courage it took for him to address the audience, The Game went on to talk in detail about finding out about the news.
"This is something that—very few people know about this—he and I have spoken about this; this is something he did not want to put out there until he had reached a certain point it time in his career because he didn’t want people to feel like he was being pitied or given things for a certain reason. He wanted to be able to come out at the end and be like ‘Look, I dealt with this the whole time, you can do anything. This is not an end sentence.’ As we talked about it on Monday—he and I—life’s what happens when you’re busy making plans. The rest of the stuff happens, and it didn’t work out the way he thought it would, here it is back, but he realized now was the time to spread that message and tell people.
"He’s going to fight this, and he’s going to win. He’ll be back stronger than ever, and I think it’s just a matter of time. He’s an incredibly strong human being, and I have so much respect for him for just—that’s a very private thing, to be able to come out when your image and what you do and everything about you is tough and everything else—to come out and go look I’m flawed, I’m fragile and I have this problem. It’s a really difficult thing, and to be able to stand up, not for yourself, but for others."
Stephanie added to that, promoting WWE's work with various cancer charities and revealing that the kids they work with are also doing what they can to help The Big Dog get through this battle.
"As [Elvis] you know, pediatric cancer research is a cause that is near and dear to my heart. As it relates to Roman, one of the things we did as a part of September, which is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, we had this whole campaign for Superstars Of Tomorrow where we visited children’s hospitals and these kids dressed up in their favorite Superstars’ persona or their own original Superstar persona.
"Our [WWE] Superstars actually come and we introduce them and it’s awesome, and we did integrations in Monday Night RAW. In Dallas in particular, we had this incredible group of kids that we really bonded with, and they created a video for Roman that I just watched, and it’s so powerful. It’s these little kids saying ‘we believe in you, Roman’ and keep fighting. It’s just that’s what life should really be about, it’s supporting one another and loving one another because we all have enough crap to deal with in our regular lives. It’s just a privilege to be a part of."
Roman is now taking some time off to be with his family, but we'll hopefully get some updates over the coming months about how exactly he's getting on. Needless to say, we're rooting for him.