The WWE and its fans are still recovering after the shocking announcement by now-former Universal Champion Roman Reigns on Monday Night RAW two weeks back that he was battling leukemia and taking a leave of absence to get well.

While Roman’s words certainly had an affect on the WWE Universe and roster, one member of the roster was impacted more than the others, Reigns’ cousin Nia Jax. Roman and Nia, along with Tamina, The Rock and SmackDown Live’s The Usos are of course all part of the same family tree, the famed Samoan Wrestling Dynasty.

Nia spoke with SportBible.com yesterday prior to RAW in Manchester and discussed Reigns’ public revelation and how it affected the locker room:

“He’s such a quiet, humble person. Roman Reigns is this larger than life, Superman character but the true Joe, Joe Anoa’i is a very shy humble guy and he’s super giving and loving. So that’s why when the news came out everybody was hit hard. I feel like that day there was just a hole in the entire locker room. He gives advice to everybody and he’s always there for everybody. And he carried the company on his shoulders on his shoulders for the last few years. There’s nothing he would say no to and he works his butt off. We thank him so much for all the contributions he’s given. I think we’re all still getting used to it. I think everybody’s trying to find their footing now we’ve lost our Superman.”

The former RAW Women’s Champion would also let us in on a little secret, saying she gathered all of the female Superstars at WWE’s Evolution pay-per-view on October 28th send a tribute to ‘The Big Dog’ just before the event that she also did on the broadcast with Tamina:

“It was so important. Prior to that, I had all the girls, present, past and future, do that tribute to him privately. I sent him a text and it was a video of him, my cousin Tamina and my aunt (Ata Johnson, The Rock’s mother). Then we had all the girls do the ‘OOH AHH!’ [Reigns’ battle cry] and he really loved it. It was really important.”

Quotes c/o SportBible

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