The NBA star was able to live out his childhood dream.
The June 28th edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown emanated from Madison Square Garden. There was a Money in the Bank qualifying match that took place involving Santos Escobar, L.A. Knight and United States Champion Logan Paul.
Prior to, during and after the match, there were interactions between NBA Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson. After the bout, Brunson and Knight faced off with Haliburton and Paul.
On the newest episode of the Roommates Show with Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart, Brunson reflected on the experience. He said people freaked out online when it appeared as if he hurt his left hand while handling a chair. In May, Brunson underwent surgery on that once-broken hand. He was injured in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Haliburton’s Pacers.
Brunson said looking at his hand in that moment was him freestyling and immersing himself in what was taking place. He recounted speaking to WWE Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque about the opportunity and refusing to call Levesque by his birth name and insisting on calling him Triple H. Brunson said being on SmackDown made him more nervous than playing in a basketball game. He added that he played it cool while speaking to Levesque but was very excited.
He jokingly added that he would have hit Haliburton with the chair if he did not care about a lawsuit from the Pacers. Brunson said the person who came up with the segment involving himself and Tyrese deserves a raise.
I did freestyle a little bit (during my WWE SmackDown appearance) and the part I freestyled, everyone freaked out over (he laughed) … When I got up and I pushed off my hand and I looked at my hand and then — it was all fun and games and then, my sister sends me this screenshot of like — or tweet — of a person screenshotting the video and looking at my hand being bent, and so it was just like a broken heart, it was a bunch of broken hearts and everyone’s like, ‘Just stay home. Stop playing around. Wrap him in bubble wrap.’ I’m just like, I can’t live out my dream?
That was all freestyled. Yeah, it was no pain. At this point, there’s no pain, there’s no strength. There’s just no pain. But, yeah, it was cool and got a call. I got a call from a guy named Paul and Paul’s talking to me. I’m like, ‘Wait. I can’t call you Paul. Your name is not Paul, your name is Triple H. I’m not calling you Paul. This is not how it’s gonna go’ and we’re on the phone and yeah, it came up with an idea just to get me out there and flew back from Chicago that morning and then, yeah, made my way to The Garden. It was definitely something that I was like — it was more nerve-racking than playing a basketball game. It’s way more nerve-racking to do that, for me. But it was fun. It was worth it, 100 percent worth it… We (Brunson & Levesque) were in a group chat and then he called me and then and I got off the phone. You know when you get off the phone, you try to act cool, like, ‘Yeah, yeah man. Sounds good, sounds good.’ Then get off the phone and I was like, ‘I was just on the phone with Triple H!’ I was hype. I’m not gonna lie, I was hype… He’s a cool dude and everyone there was great. Meeting L.A. Knight too, that was great too. Everyone a part of that, that whole experience for me was awesome… I did, I did meet Logan Paul. I met this guy named, um, what’s his name? Uh, Tyrese. Tyrese Haliburton. Great, great fellow. Great fellow. I had a chair. I was gonna smack him with a chair but, you know, I probably would have got sued by the Indiana Pacers… I saw Tyrese, I’m like, ‘Dude, what are you wearing?’ He said, ‘Nah, you see my shirt? It says Tyrese 3:17 so I’m trying to be like Austin 3:16 so I had to bring the jean shorts and the boots out.’ So you can’t be your own person? The shorts was not it. The belt he had on too. Just go throw on some sweats man. Just go throw on some sweats. Oh my God, dawg… (The person who came up with the idea for myself & Tyrese to be out there together) Deserves a raise. Deserves a raise… I should’ve just did it bro (tackled Tyrese). If my hand was good, I’m throwing hands, I’m sorry.
Brunson went on to name Adam Copeland (Edge), Jeff Hardy, Triple H and Undertaker as some of his favorite wrestlers. He hopes that the next time he appears for WWE, it can take place in Indiana so he can be in the bad guy role.
Absolutely (I watched wrestling growing up). Edge is like one of my favorites for sure… Edge’s entrance is probably one of my favorites for sure. My favorite of all-time is… he was the reason why I was jumping off furniture and landing on the lovesac bean bags — Jeff Hardy. For sure. He was one of my favorites, Triple H, Edge, The Undertaker…
One of the best things about WWE is the entrances and the pops you get, and everything but, I don’t know man. Watching the best returns and stuff and seeing all these dudes come out and it’s been a while. Honestly, the next time — hopefully the next time I do it, I would do it in like Indiana or something so it would be the opposite and see how that goes. That’d be sweet. That’d be sweet. Might as well keep the storyline going… (If they would’ve brought Reggie Miller in) Then Josh (Hart) would have been there for that… I think the RKO is by far my favorite move. It can happen at any time… Sweet Chin Music. Dawg, going on that show was dope bro. For sure (got to live my childhood dream). 100 percent.
Knight won the aforementioned Money in the Bank qualifier and to read about the final result of what happened with the briefcase at the PLE, check out this POST Wrestling article.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the Roommates Show with Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
