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Last night on RAW, Roman Reigns announced that he was diagnosed with leukemia 11 years ago and it has sadly returned, and as a result, he had to relinquish the Universal Championship. While we don't know how long he will be out got, the one certain thing is that RAW, and WWE as a whole, has a huge void to fill.
Whether you love him or hate him, there is no doubt that Reigns was the most polarizing character on the entire WWE roster. No matter what program he is in, whether it be non-title or a belt, he always had people talking, and no one else on the roster can make that claim. The last time a superstar was that polarizing> John Cena, who Reigns has replaced as the "face of the company." When Cena was on top, he got the exact same reactions as Reins does now: half of the crowd would chant "Let's Go Cena" and the other would chant "Cena sucks". Reigns gets more boos than cheers, but the point still stands. Just look at his promo after WrestleMania 33 after he "retired" The Undertaker. All he did was stand in the ring for ten minutes and didn't utter a word and the heat he got was out of this world. No one else on the roster can make that claim since arguably the Yes Movement.
Another issue is that on the current roster, there really isn't no one that can take Reigns' spot as "The Guy". You could make the argument that a guy like Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman, or Daniel Bryan can take that spot, but no one can fully fill Reigns' spot. When you think of all of the media things WWE does, who is the guy the stations usually ask for? Roman Reigns, and for good reason, the guy has the movie star looks and speaks very well in interviews, even if that doesn't always carry over to his promos on WWE programming. Is it possible that one of these guys or someone we didn't think of could step up their game and fill the gap until Reigns returns? Of course, it is, but I feel like that gap will never fully be filled until he returns.
To sum this whole thing up, we don't know how long Reigns will be out for, and to be honest, it really doesn't matter because he should take all the time that he needs to make a full recovery and come back better than ever. What we do know, however, if that WWE has a huge void to fill in Reigns' absence and there isn't any simple fix. And while fans may not realize it, they will miss Reigns more than they know and will probably have a better appreciation for him. I feel this will be a situation of you not realizing what you have until it is gone. Get Well Soon, Roman!
