Lance Anoa'i Talks When He Found Out Cousin Roman Reigns Was Battling Leukemia Again, His Reaction
As part of the legendary Anoa'i Family, Lance Anoa'i has, literally, grown up in the business. He is a fourth-generation wrestler whose relatives are a who's who of current and former Superstars. His father is Samu of the Headshrinkers and his Uncle Manu was formerly in Legacy. His cousins include Yokozuna, The Usos and Roman Reigns.
Reigns has been a mentor to the 25-year-old Lance who has competed in Major League Wrestling and House of Hardcore recently. Lance talked about how Reigns' revelation of leukemia has affected the entire family in an interview with Andy Malnoske of Wrestling Inc.
"It was very hard on our family. My phone blew up the day he announced it. I didn't even know until the announcement," Lance admitted. "But we all believe in him, we're all supporting him, we're all behind him.
"We have no idea on a time frame yet [for his WWE return] but we hope it is sooner than later. I know, just like his family, all of the fans of the WWE Universe want to see him back.
Lance then disclosed that Reigns isn't the only one in the Anoa'i Family battling cancer. Samu Anoa'i, who is Lance's father and Reigns' first cousin, also recently announced he has the disease.
"[Reigns] is battling cancer, also my father is battling stage IV liver cancer, so it's been hard on our family," revealed Lance. "But all we can do is keep going and support each other. That's what family's all about."
Lance has had a couple of matches with WWE including wrestling at a SmackDown taping in 2014 and taking on AOP in an NXT tag match last year. His work with WWE has enabled him and Reigns to become closer and Lance talked about how it in inspiring to hear that Reigns already beat cancer once before.
"Me and Roman, well Joe, we've gotten very close lately with me doing a lot of extra work with WWE. He's been like a role model to me so hearing the news, I took it very hard," said Lance.
"I knew about the cancer 11 years ago when he was in college, and he beat it once and can do it again. Being with no job, it just proves anything can happen. Dreams do come true if you just work hard at it.
"Just never give up and just keep working."