After completing a stunning win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night at the American Airlines Center, Indiana Pacers‘ Tyrese Haliburton caught up with Landon Buford for a quick chat. First, the 24-year-old point guard was asked about his top 5 all-time favorite wrestlers. Tyrese put John Cena on top, followed by Shawn Michaels; Shelton Benjamin was next; The Undertaker and Roman Reigns were the others.
Haliburton also revealed his Mount Rushmore of WWE finishers. The Wisconsin-born Pacers star mentioned Randy Orton‘s RKO, Jeff Hardy‘s Swanton Bomb, The Undertaker’s Hells Gate, and Shawn Michaels’ Sweet Chin Music as the ones. Lastly, Tyrese was asked if he could pull up to next year’s Royal Rumble knowing that it’d emanate from Indianapolis, the home city of the Pacers.
Haliburton mentioned that the Pacers are playing the Atlanta Hawks that evening at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Despite the time constraints, The Maestro said there might be a possibility but said he couldn’t reveal everything. The Pacers vs. Hawks game on Feb. 1 is slated for a 5 p.m. kickoff. Meanwhile, the Royal Rumble will get underway an hour later at 6.
There’s a glimmer of hope that Haliburton would make it to the Rumble if he actually intends to, after wrapping up his basketball commitments on time. Nonetheless, it’d be interesting to see if he can get there. The Road to WrestleMania will begin at the Royal Rumble.
As things stand, names like Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, and Bianca Belair are currently being promoted for Rumble. It goes without saying that fans would get to see some faces at the PLE that they’ve not seen in a long time. John Cena is also expected to compete; that’d probably start his retirement tour.
Tyrese Haliburton did get a taste of WWE in 2024
This year, Tyrese Haliburton made several WWE appearances. The more notable of the two came at a SmackDown taping at Madison Square Garden in July. He accompanied the then-United States Champion Logan Paul to the ring, who was up for a triple threat match against LA Knight and Santos Escobar.
At one point, when Paul asked for Tyrese’s help, the latter had the brass knuckles on hand. That wasn’t meant to happen under Jalen Brunson‘s watch, who jumped the barricade to come face-to-face with Haliburton.
They were about to duke it out, but the security intervened. Next, The Slender Conductor journeyed to NXT in September to mediate a contract signing between Trick Williams and Ethan Page. He ended up unveiling CM Punk as the special guest referee for their NXT title bout.
