Haliburton rounds out his WWE appearances ahead of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Game one of the 2025 NBA Eastern Conference Finals kicks off on May 21st. The New York Knicks are set to meet the Indiana Pacers and on the 5/19 Monday Night Raw, WWE promoted the matchup between Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton.
The two talents were involved in a segment with one another on an episode of SmackDown in 2024 at Madison Square Garden. Haliburton appeared on the latest edition of Raw to reveal that he'll be added to WWE 2K25 as D.L.C. content.
The two-time NBA All-Star then stopped past Raw Recap with Sam Roberts and Megan Morant. He reflected on the aforementioned segment with Brunson and said he learned on short notice that Brunson would be at the show. Haliburton would love to take an in-ring bump, but knows the NBA is not letting that happen. He hopes there will be more opportunities for him to collaborate with WWE.
"Well, okay, two-part question. So first part is yeah, I am fully understanding that we are going into The Garden (for SmackDown segment with Jalen Brunson) and I am a full heel. There’s no playing the middle, there’s none of that. I am the heel and I’m leaning into it. It’s a lot of fun for me when I go to The Garden or just play anywhere to have that reputation or whatever. It’s a lot of fun. I view basketball as that sometimes. When I play at home, I’m more of a face. When I’m on the road, I’m a heel. It’s just how life is. I was really excited about getting to play the heel in The Garden because I’ve always wanted to do something with WWE. It’s always been a dream of mine. I would love to take a bump or something but obviously, the league is not going for that… They are not letting that happen. So Triple H called me up and he was like, ‘Hey, we want you to come to SmackDown’ and I was like, ‘No question.’ Like, I’m gonna be the bad guy. I was like, ‘Ah! No, I’m all in.’ I was so excited for that. As a kid, I always imagined if I was a wrestler, I’d be the bad guy because I’m like the skinny guy who can talk trash with people and then, we’ll figure it out in the ring and I always imagined myself as the mouthpiece of a stable. I always felt like that was supposed to be me. So, it fit well and then I honestly didn’t even know Jalen was gonna be there until the day before or like the day of. So we got there, and me and Jalen are cool so I was like, ‘Are you coming?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah,' and then, ‘I’m just letting you know, we’re figuring it out and this is what it’s gonna be’ and it was just a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun doing it and yeah, I’m really appreciative of WWE for letting me do that and hopefully there’s many more opportunities for me to get involved in the future."
If Haliburton had to compare his rivalry with Jalen Brunson to a WWE rivalry, he'd choose Bron Breakker versus Carmelo Hayes from NXT and explained why:
"That’s a great question (what WWE rivalry mirrors Pacers versus Knicks). Here’s the thing is we are two young teams who haven’t won in a very long time, right? To me, it feels it’s more like the NXT rivalry or Intercontinental Championship bout because it’s two guys who haven’t really proven that they can be a top guy yet so, that to me kind of makes me feel like it’s -- NXT, I’m thinking like Bron Breakker/Carmelo Hayes. That’s kind of where my mind is. But I’m definitely thinking younger guys that wanna get to the mountain top because they haven’t won a championship since the 70s. Pacers have never won an NBA Championship. So, I don’t wanna say there’s a changing of the guard in our league right now but, the four teams that are left, they’re a lot of young players and so that’s exciting time for our league. So I like to think more of that route than I would tell you, like, Cody/Roman because if I thought Cody/Roman, I’m thinking Steph/LeBron. I’m thinking the guys are established and doing it. I’m thinking more of the non-established guys, yet coming into their own so, that’s kind of where my mind goes right now on the spot but, let me think on that a little bit more. I’ll get you a better answer."
There are shirts for both Brunson and Haliburton on WWE Shop. Haliburton was asked whose shirt he thinks will sell more and he admitted that he thinks Brunson will have more sells because the New York market is bigger than Indiana's.
"Okay, well the markets we (Jalen Brunson & myself) play in are a little different in size. So there happens to be more people in New York than Indy so, I’m a math guy. Analytically, right? By the numbers-wise, it would say Jalen. It would probably say Jalen. But that’s okay because I know people are still gonna buy my shirt. I got a bobblehead with the shirt… By analytics, Jalen would probably sell more and that’s okay. But I know there’s gonna be people out there buying my merch too."
Comments Haliburton made on Raw about his rivalry with Brunson are going to be discussed on 'In The Weeds' here on Fightful.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Raw Recap with Sam Roberts and Megan Morant with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.
