Tyrese Haliburton and Seth Rollins Interrupt Jalen Brunson and Roman Reigns' Segment

During the final segment of WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event at Madison Square Garden, three-time All-Star and NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson appeared alongside The Original Tribal Chief and reigning World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns.

Reigns began the segment by stating “This is where greatness acknowledges greatness,” in reference to New York City, and then praising Jalen Brunson’s leadership during their Finals run this past season and noting that it was a team effort to secure the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy for the first time in 53 years. It was also the third time in franchise history.

“There is only one Tribal Chief and there is only one captain,” said Reigns. Then Reigns emphasized that every WWE champion needs a title before presenting the new King of New York, Jalen Brunson with a customized championship belt. Telling the New York crowd that “Jalen earned it.” Then finishing of their part of the segment by telling the Madison Square Garden crowd to “acknowledge them.”

The celebration would be interrupted when Roman Reigns' opponent at Summer Slam, Seth Rollins' music hit, and out came All-Star Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton with a steel chair in hand.

Haliburton provided enough of a distraction for Seth Rollins to attack Roman Reigns from behind. Rollins would attempt to hit Reigns with his signature Stomp, but Brunson would step in to protect his Tribal Chief. Telling Rollins that he was in his house and that wasn’t going down in his house.

Reigns would recover and hit Rollins with a Superman Punch. The program would end with Roman holding up the NBA trophy while Brunson posed with the WWE world titles.

WWE Summer Slam will take place on August 1st and August 2nd at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota home of the Minnesota Vikings.

Roman Reigns — USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

A wrestling fan

This is not the first segment that Tyrese Haliburton has been involved with WWE. Last year, he was a part of the Royal Rumble. Before he made that appearance last year, he spoke about possibly making an appearance when they would be playing in Indianapolis earlier in the day.

“We do play that day,” he said with a grin. “We might see it. I can’t tell you everything… Yeah, you might see me at the Rumble.

Haliburton is a huge wrestling fan, even naming his top five wrestlers of all-time: John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, The Undertaker, and Roman Reigns.

As for Haliburton’s history with the New York Knicks, he was one of the main reasons why the Knicks were eliminated last season by the Indiana Pacers on their way to the NBA Finals in 2025. Unfortunately, the Pacers would go on to lose in seven games against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In a recent interview with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson, Tyrese Haliburton’s father, John Haliburton, spoke about Knicks fans being disrespectful during their playoff series. He would also praise them for winning a championship.

“Man, let me tell you something—it was unreal. I loved it. I loved the competitive energy. But some of those young Knicks fans can be incredibly disrespectful. It’s not the older generation; it’s the younger guys coming in wearing the jerseys. You don’t have to take my word for it,” said the older Haliburton.

“Look at them now—they just won the NBA championship. You would think the city would be celebrating and having a safe, respectful, good time, but instead, they’re all over the news going crazy doing wild things.”

He would continue, “When we played them in the playoffs and their fans were out on the street, I didn’t care anything about their noise. But they took a Haliburton jersey and burned it. They even targeted one of their own peers who just chose to represent Tyrese, and they threw garbage on him. To me, that is totally disrespectful. So going into their house, silencing them, and sending them back to their closets was one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had.”

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