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Roman Reigns On His Reaction to Kobe Bryant’s Passing, Getting Emotional Over It After the Royal Rumble

January 28, 2020 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Roman Reigns WWE Raw 10.22.18 Image Credit: WWE

– Roman Reigns spoke with the LA Times on Monday and discussed his emotional reaction to the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and Bryant’s daughter on Sunday. Bryant of course passed away along with his daughter Gigi and three others in a helicopter crash on Sunday, the day of the Royal Rumble. Reigns talked about how he was not expecting it to have such an emotional impact on him and how he cried over it after he got home from the PPV. You can see the highlights and video below:

On his initial reaction to the news: “I actually found out at Minute Maid Park right before the Rumble. Um, Triple H received a text message and he showed it to me, and I just didn’t believe it, to be honest. I’m a Lakers fan. I watched religiously throughout his career. And I’ve always just been a huge fan, massive respect, but I never really thought losing someone like that — essentially a stranger. Obviously a public figure, and I’ve seen him and watched him. But he didn’t know me and I didn’t truly know him. But I didn’t realize it would affect me so much. I mean, It really did. And on top of the Rumble just being an emotional rollercoaster in its own right, it really just saddened me and broke my heart. And obviously, you know, to hear the loss of Kobe and then his daughter as well, GiGi. My heart just goes out to his wife, the three girls you know, that were left behind, all the families that were involved, and the pilot, his family. It’s just an abrupt lost, and it really just, I feel like it shook the world.”

On getting emotional over it once he got home from the Rumble: “I did not think it would affect me as much as it did. And I legitimately — I cried. I got home last night, I flew home right after the Rumble. The first thing I did when I got in my house was, I went up to my daughter’s room and hugged her. She was asleep, she has no clue. But I hugged her for probably three, four, five minutes and just teared up the whole time. It just, — you have to really be grateful, and thankful, and take advantage of every second that we have here. Make sure your loved ones know they’re loved, and if there’s anything that you’re holding within, try to forgive and forget, and move on, and mend any type of negativity that you have going on in your life. Because you just never know. Life is short and we just need to take advantage of every second we have. So my heart and my condolences go out to all the families. It’s just a very sad time.”