Rant #2,245: Ups and Downs

The world of professional wrestling, dominated by WWE, is an enigma that cannot be categorized or pegged like other athletic or entertainment endeavors.

It truly exists in its own world, one which it created itself, and rarely does the wrestling world and the real world mesh into one.

However, the other night on Raw, the WWE's flagship show, the two worlds came together, collided head on, and the real world won out.

And in this case, it was an unfortunate victor.

In a story that made national and international headlines, Roman Reigns, one of the top wrestlers in the WWE, announced to the world that he was taking a leave of absence from the organization to battle recurring leukemia.

My son and I were watching the show, as we always do on Monday nights, and I mentioned to my son that Reigns wasn't wearing his usual wrestling garb as he entered the ring to open the show.

He was wearing casual wear, his hair perfectly tied back rather than draped all over him, and he had a look on his face that was barren.

As he is both popular and hated--and you can be both in the world of the WWE--he was booed and cheered as he started to speak.

He went through some sentences and words, and then it basically came out in full force.

Paraphrasing what he said, it went something like this: "Look, I have been lying to you. I said I was a fighting champion ... my real name is Joe, and I have leukemia."

Yes, just as bluntly as that, and the crowd became still.

Joe Anoa'i, of American Samoan descent and another member of the famous family of Samoan wrestlers that counts Dwayne Johnson as a family member, had played football in college, but his hopes and dreams of continuing as a pro football player were dashed when he was diagnosed with leukemia 10 years earlier.

He was lucky then. Through treatment, this 22 year old beat cancer, and was in full remission.

Broke, married with children, and with nowhere to go, he went to the WWE to become a professional wrestler, and basically, the rest is history.

During the past 10 years, he became one of the most esteemed wrestlers in the business, with many titles under his name, including his current one, the Universal Title.

And with two other wrestlers, he was a member of The Shield faction, perhaps one of the most awesome three-man groups in the history of pro wrestling.

But he has been humbled. He has leukemia.

He announced that he is taking a leave of absence from the WWE to fight the disease, is giving up his current title, and he said it is not a retirement. He said, again paraphrased, "I am going to step in the box and take my best swing at this thing, and I promise I will be back."

And then he left the ring, to both cheering and stunned silence.

Many in the crowd sat stunned, others were crying, others were cheering, and others were doing a combination of all three things.

The three announcers on the show looked to have been crying as they tried to return the show to some normalcy.

Me, I was stupefied.

Rarely does the WWE world and the real world collide, but here it had, and not in a way that anybody could imagine.

Sure, pro wrestling is what it is. It is more entertainment than athletics, although the participants are athletes to the core.

It is a global phenomenon, a multi-billion-dollar enterprise that has made many people rich beyond their wildest dreams.

But no matter how rich or famous you are, cancer can hit anybody.

It hit one of its biggest stars, and now he has to take care of himself.

As one of my favorite wrestlers, and as a person, I wish him the best, a view certainly echoed by the entire WWE Universe, or what they call fans of the organization.

Go to it, Joe. You will pin this thing to the mat--

1-2-3.