Royal Rumble 2025: WWE Superfan Tyrese Haliburton Wishes to Relive Childhood Once Again Before John Cena Retires

The passage of time is bringing with it the end of an iconic era! After 23 years as a wrestler, having secured 16 World Championships and the bountiful love of fans from around the globe, John Cena is ready to call it quits. As the official announcement made at WWE Money started to make waves on June 7th, reactions instantly started pouring in from wrestlers and celebrities from all walks of life. The news affected a part of the NBA spectrum as well, as Tyrese Haliburton recently disclosed in an interview.

The Indiana Pacers point guard was informed about the wrestler’s retirement amid his stay in Las Vegas for the Team USA training camp. Discussing the same in a discussion with GQ, Haliburton highlighted how one of his first thoughts was that since Cena will be present till the end of 2025, he will be present when WWE’s Royal Rumble event arrives in Indianapolis in February 2025. While the player would probably be busy with the NBA regular season, he will prioritize his needs. “I’m gonna try to get there if I can,” said Haliburton.

The NBA player has seldom shied away from showing his affection towards WWE and the wrestling community. In an interview dated October 2023, he admitted how he and his uncle used to always watch the matches whenever the latter would come over. If any ‘pay-per-views’ events were taking place, the future basketball star would cry “hard enough” to make his mother indulge in the wishes. The love for the sport right from his early days allowed him to become a proud member of ‘Cenation.’

Even today, Tyrese Haliburton continues to hold WWE close to his heart. The 24-year-old recently made headlines after accompanying Logan Paul to the ring during a highly anticipated WWE Smackdown Event at Madison Square Garden. To no one’s surprise, he was met with an abundance of boos since it was only a week ago when the Indiana Pacers had eliminated the New York Knicks from the playoffs in the same arena. Furthermore, it didn’t help that the cheers quickly diverted towards Knicks star Jalen Brunson, who was present in the audience, and soon joined LA Knight in the ring. While he may not have received much love, Tyrese Haliburton got to experience what it is like to live the WWE experience without getting physically hurt.

Tyrese Haliburton had to inform during his early NBA days before heading to watch John Cena Live!

In just over his four years as an NBA player, Tyrese Haliburton has gone through a plethora of experiences. At one point, his love for basketball and wrestling intertwined back in 2021, just as he had concluded his rookie season and a summer league series. As SummerSlam live was being performed in Paradise, Nevada, the then Sacramento Kings player had to inform first before heading out of his own free will.

“I hit my people like ‘I gotta go, I gotta go. I always wanted to go to a big event” said Haliburton during an interview with the ‘Knuckleheads Podcast.’ “They come to Wisconsin, I go to RAW SmackDown or whatever, but I gotta go. They got me two tickets right behind the announcer’s table and John Cena was wrestling. That’s like all-time favorite wrestler.”

Seeing the wrestler once was apparently not enough, as he later saw John Cena again at the 2023 WWE Fastlane event. This time, the NBA player was lucky enough to get a picture of him. Taking a dig at the long-running “You can’t see me” trend of Cena, Haliburton highlighted the moment between them on X with the caption “I indeed did see him (goat emoji) #WWEFastlane.”

The Royal Rumble event in February 2025 will not only be Haliburton’s last time witnessing the legend in the ring, but it’ll be for thousands of others. However, all good things must come to an end. In the moment of sadness over a thing ending, it is healthier to be glad about the fact that the thing even existed in the first place.