Roman Reigns Talks Breaking Kayfabe On WWE RAW When He Announced He Had Leukemia
"The Big Dog" Roman Reigns made an appearance on this week's episode of WWE's The Bump and discussed how blessed he's been this past year, after announcing that his battle with leukemia was in remission. Reigns says after his health scare he never takes each day for granted.
"Every day, I feel blessed," Reigns stated. "This morning, I felt blessed just to be able to wake up – to get up comfortably to brush my teeth and hug my daughter. It's been an unbelievable year. Last year was frightening, I'm not going to lie. Just the support and camaraderie of everyone surrounding me, giving me that focus to just put my mind towards healing and focusing on my family. To be able to be allowed that was truly a godsend."
When the announcement broke that Reigns was stepping away from the squared circle, it was the first time in a long time that he broke kayfabe in the ring. Reigns noted that his goal was to inform his fans of what was going on behind the scenes so that he could shed light on the many struggles wrestlers face, and to motivate fans to start contributing towards helping those who were in Reigns' situation in real life.
"There have been so many instances and scenarios where they get to see Roman and Joe," Reigns proclaimed. "I felt like being on television the past six or seven years straight, you become invested in people – you build a relationship and connection with people. I just didn't want to lie. I didn't want people to make up stories of what I was doing or where I was going. I just wanted to be truthful and let the world know what was going on with me.
"If there was anyone who could take a shred of hope and take my story and use it as strength, or experience, then I thought that would be the best use of what was going on. I just wanted to utilize the platform I had with my fanbase and help anyone who was going through that."
You can view Reign's full interview in the video above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE's The Bump with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.