The WWE Universe was shocked on Oct. 22 when Roman Reigns announced he was taking time off to battle leukemia. Most in the wrestling world, no matter which company they were associated with, reached out to Reigns and shared their support for the former Universal Champion.
Nia Jax spoke to SPORTbible and discussed her reaction to the announcement and how the locker room took the news.
"He's such a quiet, humble person. Roman Reigns is this larger than life, Superman character but the true Joe, Joe Anoa'i is a very shy humble guy and he's super giving and loving," she said. "So that's why when the news came out everybody was hit hard. I feel like that day there was just a hole in the entire locker room. He gives advice to everybody and he's always there for everybody. And he carried the company on his shoulders on his shoulders for the last few years. There's nothing he would say no to and he works his butt off. We thank him so much for all the contributions he's given. I think we're all still getting used to it. I think everybody's trying to find their footing now we've lost our Superman."
At WWE Evolution, fans undoubtedly noticed Jax and Tamina paying tribute to Reigns, giving out the Reigns battle cry in the middle of the battle royal.
Jax revealed that she had the entire Evolution locker room perform the battle cry prior to the event and sent the clip to Reigns.
"It was so important. Prior to that, I had all the girls, present, past and future, do that tribute to him privately. I sent him a text and it was a video of him, my cousin Tamina and my aunt (Ata Johnson, The Rock's mother)," she said. "Then we had all the girls do the 'OOH AHH!' [Reigns' battle cry] and he really loved it. It was really important."
Jax ended up winning the battle royal, earning a future title shot at Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey. This past Monday on Raw, she officially aligned herself with Tamina.
