At last night’s ESPN ESPY’s award show in Los Angeles, Roman Reigns won the first-ever Best WWE Award for his “triumphant return” to Monday Night Raw after his battle with leukemia.
This is the first year that WWE has had an awards category at ESPN’s big awards evening
He held off Becky Lynch (headlining WrestleMania and winning both the Raw & SmackDown Women’s Championship), Kofi Kingston (capturing the WWE Championship at WrestleMania) and Ronda Rousey (winning the Raw Women’s Championship at SummerSlam) to win the award.
https://twitter.com/espn/status/1149096616625868801
Reigns spoke to WWE.com and gave this quote after walking away victorious –
“For me just to be able to be healthy was the only award I needed. This is just so flattering for everyone to kind of lift me up and show me that support system and love from everybody. It was never about awards or anything like that. It was just about awareness, it was just about sharing my story and hopefully, someone could use it for a little bit of hope.”
Roman was accompanied to the ceremony by Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon, as seen in the tweet below –
https://twitter.com/StephMcMahon/status/1149160642772905989
Below is the full press release from WWE about Reigns’ win at the ESPY’s –
Roman Reigns wins the first-ever Best WWE Moment award at the ESPYS
WWE and the ESPYS have made history tonight!
For the first time ever at this years ESPYS, Best WWE Moment was awarded on the red carpet. Fans have been able to vote once a day and named Roman Reigns’ triumphant return to Monday Night Raw the moment of the year!
“For to me just to be able to be healthy was the only award I needed. This is just so flattering for everyone to kind of lift me up and show me that support system and love from everybody,” Reigns said. “It was never about awards or anything like that. It was just about awareness, it was just about sharing my story and hopefully, someone could use it for a little bit of hope.”
Reigns was congratulated during the red carpet special by Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, Universal Champion Seth Rollins, Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon and Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul Levesque.
Reigns bested the following other moments:
Becky Lynch wins Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships at WrestleMania 35
Kofi Kingston wins first WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35
Ronda Rousey captures her first WWE Women’s Championship at SummerSlam
The ESPYS gather top celebrities from sports and entertainment to commemorate the past year in sports by recognizing major sports achievements, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting the leading performers and performances. The show recognizes achievements in categories such as “Best MLB Player,” “Best Team,” “Best Female Athlete” and “Best Upset,” and inspiring human stories are showcased through three pillar awards: the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance and the Pat Tillman Award for Service.
The ESPYS red carpet special airs from 6-8 p.m. ET on ESPN. The ESPYS air tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Blake’s Take: I, among the rest of the world, was shocked when Roman told the world that his leukemia had returned and he had to take a leave of absence. And was even more shocked that after a few months he returned and proclaimed that he was in remission. That is a huge moment for anyone, let alone someone that is in the public eye. A thoroughly deserved win. Congrats Roman.
