NXT opened on a sour note last night. Ethan Page is scheduled to defend his championship against Trick Williams next month, but the two could not complete a contract signing. It seemed the two wouldn’t be fighting next month, despite the pleas of NXT GM Ava, who is also The Rock’s daughter.
Then I remembered that I’d seen a little pro wrestling before, and had a strong feeling they would eventually sign the contact. I did not expect that the man who got them to sign the contract would be two time NBA All-Star from the Indiana Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton—he’s also an Olympics gold medalist!
I use these words because this is how Haliburton was presented by Robert Stone, a man who obviously needs no introduction.
The NXT show is in Florida, and so Haliburton gets booed by the crowd. As you can likely hear, it isn't until his name appears that the fans start really letting it fly. Haliburton is one of the top players in the NBA, but he isn’t Mike Tyson or Hugh Jackman or Grumpy Cat or any number of celebs WWE has had over the years. The people who would recognize Robert Stone or Trick Williams from 100 paces do not necessarily know that the Indiana Pacers exist, let alone what their star player looks like.
NXT knows this, which is why it explains who he is multiple times, just so everyone gets it. It makes sense! Think of all the things I’ve had to explain about wrestling stuff to people right here!
Then, as WWE often does, it makes the wrestler interacting with the celebrity look like a fool and the celebrity look … well, not cool, but, you know, cooler than the wrestler. Poor Robert Stone, whoever he is.
H/t to Tape
