Soon, it will be two months since the epic Game 7 finals. Yet, the agony and pain of Tyrese Haliburton can still be heard as if the game took place yesterday. The Pacers guard was all hot from the beginning. Three threes early gave hope to Indy fans about their first NBA title. But apparently, the Achilles injury took away a very particular dream that the 25-year-old had envisioned.

The 2x All-Star was part of the biggest party of the Summer in WWE. Yes, we are talking about his viral SummerSlam clip, where his crutches came to the rescue of 17-time WWE champion John Cena. Since the PPV took place in New Jersey, the reception from the New York crowd was obviously hostile. Banking on this and Cena’s previous role of being a heel in the WWE universe, Tyrese Haliburton had a grand idea in mind, which would have helped him fulfill his dream. In fact, the head of WWE was also all ears to the plan.

“I’ll tell you guys the truth. before I got hurt and before the playoffs started, I kind of had a little conversation with Triple H. I didn’t know if I’d ever tell this story publicly,” Haliburton said during a candid conversation with the Self Made podcast, sharing for the first time the behind-the-scenes talk with Triple H, aka Paul Levesque, who is currently the Chief Content Officer of WWE. “I had a little conversation with Triple H. I said, ‘I’m begging you, I’m begging you, I’m begging you. If Cena is still a heel come SummerSlam time and we win a championship, you have to let me walk him out with the chip in Jersey at MetLife‘”.

Walking out with John Cena is any child’s dream. That’s what Tyrese Haliburton had in mind. “Like that would be the coldest shit ever. And he (Triple H) was like, you know, ‘we’ll talk, we’ll talk about it.’ And then of course I get hurt.” But during the injury, Levesque did not leave the Pacers guard hanging; in fact, he checked on him multiple times, which the 25-year-0ld appreciated. That’s when they cooked up the new plan, and made sure to not leave out the moment of the New York crowd booing Haliburton.

Despite the new plan, the what-if scenario of not being injured is still heavy on the Pacers guard’s heart. “So yeah, I think that was more if you saw those tears when we lost, number one was about not being able to win a championship and getting hurt. Number two was the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to walk John Cena out at SummerSlam. So, yeah, that’s trash, but it would have been that was the dream for sure. Now, who knows if it would ever happen, but that was the dream.”

Tyrese Haliburton’s dream failed not only because of his injury

Being an avid WWE fan, the Iowa State alum knows how quickly the decisions change. One of them changed, not because the Pacers guard got injured, but mainly due to the crowd pressure. Ever since the Elimination Chamber PPV in March, John Cena turned heel, equivalent to being a bad guy in the WWE universe. But that changed before the SummerSlam main event against Cody Rhodes. The leader of Cenation, once again, turned his face (good guy) and embraced the love from the fans.

So, it wouldn’t have made sense for Tyrese Haliburton to enter with Cena. After all, the New York crowd was not going to shower any love on one guy who broke the Knicks’ run in the ECF. That’s why it was the right decision from WWE and Haliburton to appear in the crowd and have the viral moment on Night 2 of SummerSlam. The 25-year-old still repped John Cena by donning his t-shirt at the MetLife Stadium. In fact, the Pacers guard inadvertently helped just like his dimes on the court.

Cena leaned over the barricade and snatched one of Haliburton’s crutches to attack Rhodes. Since there was a Street Fight stipulation, it was all legal and helped Cena momentarily. But Haliburton is not ruling out any future linkup with WWE or, particularly, with his favorite wrestler, Cena.