Joe Anoa’i
This recap is going to be a little different. The results for the night will be at the bottom. There had been rumors that Roman Reigns might have been injured as he missed some house shows over the weekend. When he came to the ring, no one expected what was about to happen. Calling himself Joe, his real name, he reveled that leukemia he had battled eleven years ago had returned. He announced that he would not be able to defend the Universal Championship due to treatment and so he was giving it up. He said he was not retiring and that he would be back soon.
We have have all witnessed wrestlers having to step away from the ring, many more then we would like. The vast majority of them are due to injury, so to have someone announce they have cancer hits us harder then most. The wrestling world and the wrestling community responded with words of love and encouragement. We think of wrestlers as larger then life, superheroes in the world. We never think they can get sick like a normal person. They do extraordinary things, so surely illness can’t effect them, right?
This is not an eulogy for Joe Anoa’i or Roman Reigns. He vowed to fight and there is no reason to doubt that he will be back. This is also not about shaming those who boo Reigns. A wise man once said if the crowd is loud, you are doing something right. This is just trying to make sense of what happened a few hours ago. Seeing a crowd go silent and then cheer as one for Reigns. Watching as Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins cried as they hugged Reigns. Watching the tweets roll in. Seeing a backstage that was untied in grief for one man. Reigns will be back, a man who was first hit with this when he had nothing and still manged to become a WWE Superstar. You can boo him, debate his merits on discussion boards. For that first night, cheer him as one. If you can’t cheer Roman Reigns, that’s okay you won’t be. You’ll be cheering Joe Anoa’i
Conclusion
Ambrose and Rollins won the Tag Team Titles, and then Ambrose attacked Rollins. Nikki and Rousey signed their contract. Elias turned faced by attacking Baron Corbin. Strowman will meet Lesner at Crown Jewel.
