Roman Reigns has leukemia

[J.T.]

13 hours ago, sabremike said:

I'm surprised they opened the show with that because after that how the heck could anyone want to watch or be able to enjoy the rest of the show? 

Not sure how this is different from when Edge announced his retirement due to his neck being fubar or when shows open with RIP Tributes.

Even when shows start off with terrible news, the workers do their best to pick up everyone's spirits during the show.

[hammerva]

Besides it sure does seem that Dean turning heel was part of the nightly plan regardless of the announcement.   So you want to end the show with Dean turning on Seth and THEN announce that Reigns is dropping the title because he has leukemia.   You can't end a show that depressing.  

[The Natural]

 

[Super Ape]

I want Joe Anoa’i to beat the shit out of his leukemia, and if his body can handle the ring again, I want Roman Reigns to get the blow-the-roof-off pop Kobashi got when he came back from his cancer battle.

My heart goes out to each and every one of you on here who have lost a loved one to cancer. My grandmother passed away from lung cancer when I was 10, and a friend of mine from high school died of brain cancer five years ago.

[twiztor]

they finally got Roman over with the fans.

in all seriousness, i hope he fights and wins against this ordeal.

[Craig H]

It sounds like the last time he beat this he went into remission fairly quickly and was in worse shape going into it than he is now. So I guess is there any way to know what kind of timetable he's looking at for treatment and recovery. I'm assuming he's going to kick ass doing this and with someone in that good of shape and that young I would hope that treatment and immunotherapy won't last that long. Again, not really caring about when he returns, but just trying to understand what his timetable is like.

My daughter's best friend's sister just went into remission from her battle with leukemia, but that took years of treatment and she's only 5.

[nate]

I can't read this thread any more y'all.  It's too much.  But peace be with all of us that have had people leave us sooner than we were ready for.

[tbarrie]

1 hour ago, The Comedian said:

Hey, look at it this way...if, say, Jack Gleeson came down with cancer, would you feel bad about hating Joffrey? Roman Reigns is a fictional character, so don't beat yourself up...

That's an entirely rational response, but I'm not convinced everybody who was booing Roman Reigns was being that rational about it.

There are also differences between how WWE handled it and how a normal TV show would, but to avoid derailing this thread I'll just extend well wishes to Joe and his family. You can beat this, Big Dog.

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[Pete]

The clip of him getting hugs and words of encouragement from Trips, Heyman and Braun was pretty brutal. That said, seeing the smile on his face as he left the building makes me realize this dude is a fucking warrior. Almost makes me want to spare leukemia a thought for the ass-beating Roman's about to give it.

[Greggulator]

It really sucks Roman (and many other people, as this thread shows) have to have this battle. 

Just wanted to post this because I think Roman might be the best worker of the past few years. I don't think anyone was in as many great matches as Roman. The Shield tore the house down in their big run. Roman was obviously protected a bit when they came up, but they realized what they had in him very quickly and made him the beast of the team. I think Shield/Wyatts from Elimination Chmaber is the best match of all-time. The whole final third act of the match is about Roman knowing his comrades have fallen and there's only one thing left to do -- go down on his sword. And we still believed he could win, because he ran through the Survivor Series and broke the eliminations record at the Royal Rumble. The moment when he powers out of Sister Abigail was just an epic moment -- Bray has this face of just pure awe at how Roman can dare overcome these odds. And he was about to win when Harper took one for the team (straight from The Shield's playbook) and Bray finally hit Sister Abigail and one.

I also loved both Roman/Seth vs. The Rhodes Brothers matches. The first was a thing of beauty, with the Rhodes Boys saving their careers in a straight-up Southern Tag masterpiece, with Dusty at their side (and Dean eating the elbow). They also had a match on Raw that had an all-time great ending. That was the match where the recently face Big Show came from the crowd, took out Dean before he could interfere, and knocked out Roman and gave Cody/Golddust the straps. Big Show got revenge for having to knock out Dusty a few months earlier when he was The Authority's servant. Then Show went into the crowd and did The YES! chant, which reminded everyone of who was leading the insurgency against the corrupt regime. 

I hope Roman beats this, because Roman is just an incredible worker, and just in general because he seems like a great dude.

[SorceressKnight]

9 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Bo, Bray, and I think JoJo were all out with the same thing at the same time, so probably not. But, hell, who knows what exactly that was.

I thought that this was more the fact that there was the meningitis scare- and that was firmly based on: Bo, Bray, and JoJo caught it, and Roman was the last guy in the ring with one of them before they found out about it. So it made sense.

12 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I was at tonight's show. It started off in typical boo Roman fashion. Then he announced he had leukemia and most everyone looked around at each other like what did he say? 

Then people scrambled to their phones, some thinking it was a work but come on they wouldn't do that.. 

Then people realized it was real and started getting emotional, myself included on that, I still tried to enjoy the show but it was all surreal. Just a very odd live wrestling experience. I never liked the booking but I liked Roman the performer and he seemed like a good guy as well I hope a full recovery for him and prayers for his loved ones.

I was at the show as well- it was just...surreal. Not just the show, but how you could see them scramble through everything there. There was no point on the show you weren't totally aware what you were seeing- the show, leaving the arena, at dinner, on the drive home, and straight through even to now, just hoping "I didn't see what I think I saw, right?"

[John from Cincinnati]

37 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

It really sucks Roman (and many other people, as this thread shows) have to have this battle. 

Just wanted to post this because I think Roman might be the best worker of the past few years. I don't think anyone was in as many great matches as Roman. The Shield tore the house down in their big run. Roman was obviously protected a bit when they came up, but they realized what they had in him very quickly and made him the beast of the team. I think Shield/Wyatts from Elimination Chmaber is the best match of all-time. The whole final third act of the match is about Roman knowing his comrades have fallen and there's only one thing left to do -- go down on his sword. And we still believed he could win, because he ran through the Survivor Series and broke the eliminations record at the Royal Rumble. The moment when he powers out of Sister Abigail was just an epic moment -- Bray has this face of just pure awe at how Roman can dare overcome these odds. And he was about to win when Harper took one for the team (straight from The Shield's playbook) and Bray finally hit Sister Abigail and one.

I also loved both Roman/Seth vs. The Rhodes Brothers matches. The first was a thing of beauty, with the Rhodes Boys saving their careers in a straight-up Southern Tag masterpiece, with Dusty at their side (and Dean eating the elbow). They also had a match on Raw that had an all-time great ending. That was the match where the recently face Big Show came from the crowd, took out Dean before he could interfere, and knocked out Roman and gave Cody/Golddust the straps. Big Show got revenge for having to knock out Dusty a few months earlier when he was The Authority's servant. Then Show went into the crowd and did The YES! chant, which reminded everyone of who was leading the insurgency against the corrupt regime. 

I hope Roman beats this, because Roman is just an incredible worker, and just in general because he seems like a great dude.

I just want to piggyback off of the praise here. While it's fair to say that Roman's Shield stuff constitutes his best stuff in a lot of people's eyes (mine included), it should also be noted that he has been tremendously consistent in his role as a top singles guy. Booking aside and Lesnar being Lesnar aside, Roman's put together a fantastic body of work against such a wide variety of wrestlers. To me, Roman's really hit that groove Cena was in back in '07 where he really knew what to do with the salty crowd reactions he was getting. And that's made for a lot of interesting matches. It's a shame he'll have to wait a bit longer for the lengthy title run he deserves. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

19 minutes ago, SorceressKnight said:

I was at the show as well- it was just...surreal. Not just the show, but how you could see them scramble through everything there. There was no point on the show you weren't totally aware what you were seeing- the show, leaving the arena, at dinner, on the drive home, and straight through even to now, just hoping "I didn't see what I think I saw, right?"

A lot happened on the show and it was a good show for sure but all we talked about on the ride home was Roman.  Then I hopped on YouTube and watched the clip of him backstage.  I can't believe it. In some ways I guess maybe I do look at these guys like superheroes like "how Roman?" but fucking cancer..   fuck it..   the YT video was touching.  I love how most everyone it's one big family,  wrestling is cool in that way,  your co-workers become your family for life. 

[Matt D]

You guys have said things better and more personally than I could. I'll just drop this here. It's a local story from a couple towns over from the beginning of the year.

https://www.wmar2news.com/news/region/baltimore-city/make-a-wish-grants-severn-boy-with-trip-to-wrestlemania

“They [kids] are the strongest people on the planet and they are super heroes,” Reigns said. “They’re the ones that are going through the real struggle. They’re the ones that are going through the adversity and the hardship and they’re fighting for their lives every single day.”

There are a bunch of stories out there like that if you google around. WWE's corporate charity is absolutely PR and jaded especially in light of what's going on, but when it comes to what the wrestlers themselves do, I never believe that and you can't help but admire the time they put in. 

[Michael Sweetser]

5 hours ago, J.T. said:

Not sure how this is different from when Edge announced his retirement due to his neck being fubar or when shows open with RIP Tributes.

Even when shows start off with terrible news, the workers do their best to pick up everyone's spirits during the show.

Heyman said it best in his promo - the show must go on, and Reigns would want it that way.  You can even see it in the backstage video - when Nia is hugging him and crying, Reigns tells her she's still got work to do.

[The Natural]

Moving statement by Roman Reigns:

 

[John from Cincinnati]

 

[Pete]

As always, the Garden is class.

[Dolfan in NYC]

That Aleister Black story is awesome.  But he spelled poor Curt Hawkins name wrong.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

 

3 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

That Aleister Black story is awesome.  But he spelled poor Curt Hawkins name wrong.

and I bet he spells misspells Hennig as Henning

6 hours ago, Michael Sweetser said:

Heyman said it best in his promo - the show must go on, and Reigns would want it that way.  You can even see it in the backstage video - when Nia is hugging him and crying, Reigns tells her she's still got work to do.

There's times the show doesn't have to go on. I would hope the talent was at least given the option to work or not. It was tough to watch, so I can't imagine how hard it was to go out there and work like that. I mean, Rollins was out there bawling his eyes out. Paul Heyman's eyes were red as hell, so you know he was crying hard in the back.

My first boss in the funeral biz committed suicide in January 2016. Like an idiot, I agreed to work an evening viewing at the funeral home I was with at the time after attending the wake in the afternoon. Any opportunity I could get, I would sneak off into the office and bawl my eyes out, then try to pull myself together. What a mistake working that night was. I get uncomfortable when Shane McMahon is on tv because he and my boss looked a lot alike.

[Brian Fowler]

5 hours ago, Matt D said:

You guys have said things better and more personally than I could. I'll just drop this here. It's a local story from a couple towns over from the beginning of the year.

https://www.wmar2news.com/news/region/baltimore-city/make-a-wish-grants-severn-boy-with-trip-to-wrestlemania

 

 

There are a bunch of stories out there like that if you google around. WWE's corporate charity is absolutely PR and jaded especially in light of what's going on, but when it comes to what the wrestlers themselves do, I never believe that and you can't help but admire the time they put in. 

I always think about the whatever hundreds of make a wish visits Cena has done. I just can't imagine the emotional burden of doing that over and over and over, knowing that most of those kids aren't going to make it. I feel like it would crush your spirit.

[Matt D]

2 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

I always think about the whatever hundreds of make a wish visits Cena has done. I just can't imagine the emotional burden of doing that over and over and over, knowing that most of those kids aren't going to make it. I feel like it would crush your spirit.

Now imagine having gone through it yourself at 22 as well.

[Michael Sweetser]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

 

and I bet he spells misspells Hennig as Henning

There's times the show doesn't have to go on. I would hope the talent was at least given the option to work or not. It was tough to watch, so I can't imagine how hard it was to go out there and work like that. I mean, Rollins was out there bawling his eyes out. Paul Heyman's eyes were red as hell, so you know he was crying hard in the back.

My first boss in the funeral biz committed suicide in January 2016. Like an idiot, I agreed to work an evening viewing at the funeral home I was with at the time after attending the wake in the afternoon. Any opportunity I could get, I would sneak off into the office and bawl my eyes out, then try to pull myself together. What a mistake working that night was. I get uncomfortable when Shane McMahon is on tv because he and my boss looked a lot like.

I don't disagree with any of this, and this will sound like I'm copping out...

..but pro wrestling is a completely different business than any other type of industry.  The closest thing there is really is touring music acts.  I've thankfully only been involved in a few situations where a major catastrophe of this nature - a major injury, or even a death - have occurred before or during the event.  And something like this can be cathartic, especially in a physical context.  You could see it in Seth Rollins in the main - he was working his heart out, and there was both a sadness and a fire in his eyes the entire time, and he was running at 120% and nailing EVERYTHING, and he was getting out all that raw emotion he had.  He was doing it for Roman, and he was doing it for himself.

I don't know if he felt better after or not, but it was definitely a release.  That's what was needed at the time - a release.

[AxB]

1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said:

I always think about the whatever hundreds of make a wish visits Cena has done. I just can't imagine the emotional burden of doing that over and over and over, knowing that most of those kids aren't going to make it. I feel like it would crush your spirit.

I saw this one youtuber did a Make-a-Wish (the Wish kid wanted to be in one of his videos) and he was super bubbly and positive the whole time he was with the kid. And then when he's walking out after the visit is over, as soon as he's far enough away that the kid can't hear him, he collapses to the floor crying his eyes out. For ages.