The formidable “Tribal Chief” of the WWE, Roman Reigns, has become invincible day by day. Since he pretty much runs the whole business, it is impossible to imagine the world of WWE without him. But there was a time when it was very close to happening. Roman stepped away from wrestling during the dark days of the pandemic to protect himself and his family. His absence from shows for a while made things very different.
His manager, Paul Heyman, has recently focused on that intriguing chapter and claimed Reigns thought about retiring during the worst COVID-19 crisis, but he fought back and kept entertaining his fans.
Paul Heyman claims Roman Reigns believed he was retired during COVID
With the time leading up to WrestleMania 38, Roman Reigns has been the driving force behind WWE’s storyline. But according to Paul Heyman, there was a time when Reigns considered stepping away.
Heyman recently told Uproxx Sports that Reigns considered retiring before his WrestleMania 36 battle against Goldberg because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Reigns made the tough choice to put his health and family first during a scary time by leaving WWE while the world fought the pandemic.
The Wise Man stated, “He considered himself retired. He wasn’t coming back. I was executive director of Monday Night Raw, and Roman was assigned to SmackDown. But every week I heard all the SmackDown writers and producers and personnel saying, ‘God, I just wish Roman would come back.’”
While sharing his satisfaction with Tribal Chief’s comeback, he added, ” And I would ask, has anybody talked to him? Yeah, he says he’s retired. He’s not coming back. No way. Thanks a lot. Done. Finished. Goodbye. So the fact that he came back for this run, for what we have accomplished, is nothing short of a miracle because as far as he was concerned, he was out.”
Before the pandemic, Reigns faced another challenging phase when he took a break from wrestling due to his cancer in 2018. The day he revealed his health struggles was truly shocking for fans everywhere.
Roman Reigns’ health issues before COVID lockdown
When Roman Reigns announced that he was suffering from leukemia, it was an awful blow to the wrestling community. In order to prioritize his health, he had to step away from wrestling and forfeit his championship title. During a Monday Night Raw in 2018, Roman Reigns made the emotional decision to retire from wrestling owing to health problems.
The 38-year-old started his remarks with an apology: “I feel like I owe everybody an apology. For months, maybe even a full year, I’ve come out here and spoke as Roman Reigns, and I said a lot of things. I said I’d be here every week, I said I’d be a fighting champion, I said I was gonna be consistent, and I said I was gonna be a workhorse.”
He maintained an upbeat mindset, considering how difficult the path to recovery might be. Despite the alarming statistics that over 61% of people with leukemia will survive for at least five years, he was determined to beat the disease once again.
Reigns reassured everyone, “I want to make one thing clear—by no means is this a retirement speech. Because after I’m done whoopin’ leukemia’s ass once again, I’m coming back home… I will beat this and I will be back. So you will see me very, very soon.” Everyone went through a rough patch, but Reigns returned four months later to announce he was no longer sick.
Could this be connected to Roman Reigns’ recent short-term appearances in the ring? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
