Fuck Cancer.

On the Oct. 22 edition of Monday Night Raw, Roman Reigns stood in the middle of the ring and told the world that his real name was Joe and that his Leukemia had returned after 11 years in remission. He said that he would need to take some time off. He laid the Universal Title in the middle of the ring and walked up the ramp where he was met by his emotional brothers, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.

Never in the history of WWE has the universe gotten behind solo Roman Reigns as they did on Oct. 22. Chants of Thank You Roman echoed throughout the building. Every person in that place was a fan of the big dog. His yard was full of respect and admiration on this night. Hopefully, he’ll take that crowd reaction and use it to fuel his eventual return. Because, after all, it wasn’t a retirement speech.

Truly, this humanizes the Samoan Superman. And it just goes to show that cancer is no respecter of person. You can be anyone, it doesn’t care.

Terribly jaded people have theorized that this could all be a work. If it is, I’ll shut down this blog for good and never watch another minute of WWE programming or spend another dollar on WWE merchandise. Even Vince McMahon, the man who threw his daughter into this business for better or worse, realizes that would alienate most of his audience and frankly, piss us all off. God, I hope he’s really not that ignorant.

But the WWE Universe proved something to us all last night. They’re not stupid. Wrestling fans are not dumb. The reaction Roman got last night should be a wake up call to WWE – we hated the character. Not the man. The man, Joe Anoa’i, was over in an instant last night because he spoke from his heart. Because he came out there and showed us vulnerability. He showed us that he wasn’t Superman, but he was going to fight like hell to get to his goal. THIS, is the Roman Reigns everyone can get behind.

But it didn’t stop there, WWE gave us a real glimpse into why they’re so high on Roman last night as well. Take a look at this video.

Roman, had the respect of every person he spoke to backstage. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose were openly weeping on national television. Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Paul Heyman, Braun Strowman, the entire women’s division, Titus O’Neil – they all had so much love for him. They were encouraging him. This was not just a passing “good luck, man” or “I’m praying for you.” No, this was respect for a leader. This was respect for a brother who they believed in. This was a genuine blow to their lives.

Bottom line, we have all been affected either directly or indirectly by cancer. No matter who it is, we don’t route for someone to get sick and we weep with them when they do. This is the fight that we all want Roman to win. It’s pretty obvious that he’s loved and respected by his peers. After last night’s showing, it’s pretty obvious that the universe is going to rally around him. It just makes sense that when he makes his return, that he’ll get a huge reaction. It’s up to WWE to take his character in a direction that more closely resembles the man.

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