Roman Reigns Reveals Why He Left WWE European Tour Early Last Year
As noted, current WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns was interviewed by WWE color commentator Corey Graves on the inaugural episode of WWE Network's Straight To The Source. The first passenger on the gravy train talked about his recent bout with the mumps as well as being pulled off tour last year for the birth of his twins.
On being sidelined with the mumps back in October 2017, Reigns said that he experienced some pain in his jaw and ears, but the worst part of the infection was being isolated for three weeks.
"It was just a strange scenario," Reigns said. "I was infected with the mumps and, like, I don't know if we'll be able to use this [footage]. Like, I wasn't in any serious pain or anything. You have your obvious side effects and gland swelling and stuff like that. The only real pain I felt was like in my jaw and in my ears, but the main thing was the isolation. It's such a rare virus that, hell, half the nurses didn't even know what the mumps were because it's so old school. Exactly, you get your vaccines at one [year old] and everything. I think when we were younger they didn't do boosters at a certain age, so now they do it, and, regardless, my immune system wasn't up to the task! I caught it and I was out for about three weeks. And the crazy part is that I was stuck in the hospital or in the hotel and to be in the hotel sucked, man."
'The Big Dog”s bout with kennel cough reminded him that life is delicate and can change in an instant.
"It reminds you how fragile everything is and as simple as one little thing like a freak occurrence like that can take you out of your life. It can take you out of your normal schedule, so for me, I mean, I've always been very thankful for health and it's the little things, being able to wake up in your bed, and play with your kids, and be next to your wife, being able to kiss your kids, kiss them on the cheek. Yeah, I get yelled at for kissing the kids now!"
Also during the interview, Reigns recalled being pulled off tour last year when his wife had their twins and the fans' rampant speculation.
"It's funny how people come up with, like, all these conclusions. Like, nobody knew what was going on with me," said Reigns. "I'm not like [The] Miz where I announce it on every RAW. 'He's sick!', 'something happened!', 'he got in trouble!', 'oh no, he did it again!' And then, no, like, I went home because I was having babies! We didn't talk about it [publicly]. That was a year ago."
To check out the show, subscribe to WWE Network. If you use any of the quotations that appear in this article, please credit Straight To The Source with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.