'WrestleMania 36': Why is Roman Reigns taking a break from WWE and when will he return?
Roman Reigns has had to take a break from wrestling just a little before WrestleMania 36. A week before the show, it was revealed that he would not be competing against Bill Goldberg for the Universal Championship at the show, due to the coronavirus pandemic that could be a risk to his weakened immune system. WWE announced that Braun Strowman would replace him in the match just 24 hours before WrestleMania kicked off.
There's much doubt surrounding Reigns' return and the fact that someone within the WWE ranks has contracted COVID-19 hasn't helped matters either. The Wrestling Observer's Newsletter noted that Reigns's return was entirely up to him and that no one knew when exactly that would be.
Just a few days ago, Goldberg opened up about this abrupt change of plans. "I go to Orlando, I tape, I come back here and quarantine. It’s just been like ‘Groundhog Day’. Obviously, I had a change of opponents at the very last moment. Roman Reigns, everybody knows he has leukemia, he’s in remission and obviously his immune system is down,” he said, adding "I don't know why it was even considered in the beginning besides he’d invested the time and WWE invested the money in the angle, the match. So literally until the 23rd hour, it was still a possibility that he and I were going to wrestle. Plans changed at the very last minute. I did my match with [Braun Strowman] and it was possible that I could do a match with Roman again before the fifth [of April], that obviously fell through.”
He added that he and Reigns could have had their match. "It was still a possibility on [Roman’s] end that he could go through with the match. We went to the [WWE Performance Center] and our temperatures were taken when we walked in, the place was scrubbed up and down, there were a limited amount of people allowed in and out of the building, it was very controlled. I think what happened was somebody was sick and Roman had heard about it. They just had the flu, but just the fact that someone was sick under those circumstances, at the end of the day, he just couldn’t do it. More power to him to continually want to get it done, whether that’s realistic or unrealistic from a person in his shoes [is] concerned but you’ve got to love the guy because up to the 11th hour, he was still willing to do it."
The Miz was 'the someone sick', which worried Reigns. The Miz did not participate in Wrestle Mania 36.
Meanwhile, though a person has contracted COVID-19, WWE will continue taping. The league issued a statement saying, "We believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times. We are producing content on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance following appropriate guidelines while taking additional precautions to ensure the health and wellness of our performers and staff. As a brand that has been woven into the fabric of society, WWE and its Superstars bring families together and deliver a sense of hope, determination and perseverance.”