WWE occasions at Madison Sq. Backyard are all the time must-watch affairs, and Friday’s dwell taping of SmackDown was no exception. In actual fact, there was a crossover second that NBA followers won’t quickly overlook involving New York Knicks celebrity Jalen Brunson and Indiana Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton.
In latest days, Haliburton had been teasing his involvement in WWE. He was available for Monday Night time Uncooked in Indianapolis and even had a brand-new shirt debut in honor of Indiana’s announcement that it will be internet hosting WWE’s three largest premium dwell occasions — the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania and SummerSlam — over the subsequent seven years.
So it was no shock that Haliburton, whose Pacers knocked out the Knicks within the Japanese Convention semifinals a number of weeks in the past, was available for SmackDown. The precise shock was that Brunson was there to greet and finally confront him. Brunson was initially proven within the crowd having fun with the present with Haliburton getting into alongside YouTuber and WWE United States champion Logan Paul as a method to attract warmth from the New York crowd.
It labored.
The newfound rivals shared a short stare down earlier than persevering with to jaw at one another all through the Cash within the Financial institution qualifying match that includes Paul, LA Knight and Santos Escobar. Haliburton tried to assist Paul with a pair of brass knuckles, however Brunson — ever the hero in New York — jumped the barricade to cease him from interfering.
With Paul’s match over, Haliburton continued to jaw on the crowd and threaten Knight with the weapon just for Brunson to step into the squared circle with a metal chair to even the edges. Brunson and Knight received Haliburton and Paul to go away whereas serving to defend the glory of the Knicks’ homecourt of Madison Sq. Backyard.
Because the heel duo made their method backstage, Haliburton continued to jaw on the crowd, saying, “You already know I am the very best. I will be again.” In the meantime, Brunson — metal chair in hand celebrated — along with his new associate to a raucous crowd.
Whereas it stays unlikely that Brunson and Haliburton will reignite their rivalry in a proper match — as Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman as soon as did in WCW — it was clear that there was no love misplaced between the 2 budding superstars.
Whereas the Pacers did beat the short-handed Knicks within the semifinals, they went on to lose towards the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics; nonetheless, the sting of that collection loss nonetheless stays in New York. Both method, it is clear that these two have some unfinished enterprise that may have to be settled both on the courtroom or within the ring. This is hoping for the latter.