Would you be interested in seeing NBA Superstars in the WWE?

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

Celebrities had an extremely important role in the success of WWE and pro wrestling as a whole.

The first WrestleMania billed as "The Greatest Wrestling Event of All Time!" featured numerous celebrities such as Billy Martin as ring announcer, Liberace as time keeper, Muhammad Ali as special guest referee and Mr. T competing in the tag team main event match along with Hulk Hogan.

With the reception of fans worldwide and the success that WrestleMania had, celebrity involvement has been a major key in the production of WrestleMania events.

• WrestleMania 2 featured a 20-man battle royal pitting several NFL players against WWF wrestlers, while Lawrence Taylor faced Bam Bam Bigelow at WrestleMania XI.
  
• Mike Tyson appeared at WrestleMania XIV as the special guest enforcer for the WWF Championship bout between Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin.
  
• Professional boxer Butterbean was challenged to a boxing match by Bart Gunn at WrestleMania XV.
  
• At WrestleManias XIV, XV and 2000, Pete Rose became involved in a short feud with Kane that became a running gag with each appearance ending with Rose receiving a Tombstone piledriver or chokeslam from Kane.
  
• The Big Show faced sumo wrestling yokozuna Akebono in a sumo contest at WrestleMania 21 and fought professional welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. at WrestleMania XXIV.
  
• Jersey Shore star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi competed in a 6-person tag team match teaming with Trish Stratus and John Morrison in a winning effort against Dolph Ziggler and LayCool (Layla and Michelle McCool).

Overall, there have been 99 celebrities involved at WrestleMania: 32 athletes, 29 musicians, 19 actors, and 20 others from different backgrounds.




In conclusion, celebrity involvement is "what's best for business".



Just like there was a "Rock n Wrestling connection" in the 1980s that led WWF to an extreme wave of success, could we see the same thing today with a "Basketball n Wrestling connection"?


Many basketball players today are 90s kids/teens, at the time where pro wrestling and WWF was extremely popular mainly because of mega stars like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock.


[YOUTUBE]watch?v=-wlvdYJuKDE[/YOUTUBE]




Recently, Indiana Pacers center and 2x All Star Roy Hibbert had an exchange with WWE Legend "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on Twitter.

While both of these guys are joking, however the idea of NBA players involved in WWE is certainly not a bad idea.




The Rock has returned in 2011 to WWE as a part timer and main evented the next 3 WrestleMania's.
The reason behind him being in the WM Main Event was because of his drawing ability, Dwayne Johnson was one of the biggest stars in wrestling and is today one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
He has 6.7 million followers on Twitter and over 25 million fans on Facebook.

People who don't follow wrestling anymore but who continue to support Dwayne Johnson, will tune in when The Rock is there.
However, if he's not the focal point of a show or a PPV, if he's somewhere wrestling in the middle of the card not in the main event, they'll probably won't be interested that much as it will only devalue The Rock's star power.


BUT a match in the middle of the card against an NBA superstar would garner 10x more interest and more attention than any main event match The Rock could have against a current wrestler, especially if that match is against the best NBA player of his generation LeBron James.


[YOUTUBE]watch?v=opbRbenwyAM[/YOUTUBE]


LeBron James, while hated by many, remains one of the most popular NBA players ever.
WWE getting LeBron in his prime to come to their show and possibly get in the ring for a match would create a lot of buzz and get a lot of basketball non-wrestling fans to possibly tune in to watch WWE.
The idea for a LeBron James vs The Rock match would make huge money for WWE, it would be great if somehow WWE can pull it off, maybe at SummerSlam WWE's 2nd biggest show of the year considering LeBron's schedule.
Imagine LeBron coming off of a 3Peat then wrestling in WWE in the summer, it would definitely be a huge deal for WWE.


One of the main reasons of the 1980s pro wrestling boom was because WWF brought one of the biggest pop culture icons at the time, such as Mr T.

Mr T was mostly known because of his role in American action-adventure TV series "The A-Team".

The A-Team was an extremely popular TV series, not only in the US but worldwide.

The average season viewers of The A-Team for the first four seasons were over 14 million viewers.


Another example of WWE bringing a popular pop culture icon is bringing in "Iron" Mike Tyson.

A couple of months after the Tyson vs Holyfield rematch that broke many records and was considered one of the most controversial events in the history of sports (in which Tyson bit off a piece of Holyfield's right ear), WWF brought Mike Tyson to the build-up to WM14 which led to the beginning of arguably the greatest and most succesful financial era in pro wrestling history "The Attitude Era".


Another match that's been talked about and the chances of it happening are more likely is The Big Show vs Shaquille O'Neal.

While this match certainly won't generate as much buzz as The King vs The Rock but it would be great just to idea these two giants go at it.



Earlier this year, a basketball player for Michigan State led the entire crowd to do a huge "YES" chant.

[YOUTUBE]watch?v=m0ttEbPycDs[/YOUTUBE]


Imagine for example, LeBron James leading the Miami Heat crowd to something similar to this.


In conclusion, I think a "Basketball N Wrestling" connection would benefit the WWE and pro wrestling as a whole in a huge way.

 

[LODemolition]

I think LeBron and Kobe are the only current NBA players that would gain any sort of worldwide attention for the WWE. This is just a down time for the league in terms of star power. Possibly Durant or Howard could get them some SportsCenter coverage, but again, LeBron and Kobe are the only instantly recognizable faces the NBA has to offer at the moment. It wouldn't do anything for me personally. It's been done before with Shaq, Malone, and Rodman.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I would love to see both!!
The Rock vs. The King
Big Show vs. Big Shaq

I would love to see a Tag Team match between these 4!!
The Rock and Big Show vs. The King and Big Shaq
The Rock and The King vs. Big Show and Big Shaq
The Rock and Big Shaq vs. The King and Big Show

 

[ASKane]

There are too many talented young guys who have been undeservingly forced into the midcard and in WM season they are forced lower so if you add NBA guys to the WM card talented guys like Ziggler, Sandow, Axel and Kofi may not even get on the card which isn't good business. I don't like part timers in WWE unless they have an RVD style contract with 90days on 90 days off but if they have a contract like Lesnar and only has 3 matches a year I don't think they should return. Guys wrestled around 200+ events a year deserve the big spots at WM not NBA players

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I can't say I'm interested in either one. When I watch a wrestling program or ppv, I want to see WRESTLERS being the center of attention. Neither Shaq or Kobe are wrestlers, nor are they trained to be wrestlers. Given their immense level of wealth, I also see no reason why they'd even be remotely interested in wrestling and risking getting hurt.

I'm fully aware of what kind of buzz such a thing would generate and that's a great thing. Could these guys help draw some ratings and ppv buys? I've no doubt that they could just for the sheer novelty of seeing them involved. At the same time, however, I think it's important to consider the potential backlash. Since The Rock came back, WWE management has caught criticism from fans, wrestling insiders and their own locker room for The Rock being brought back and made the center of attention. That sentiment has only grown with the return of Batista, who isn't remotely as big of a star or as talented as The Rock, yet he finds himself in the midst of a mega push despite that fans are more interested in other members of the roster who've been there day in & day out.

While I personally feel it's true that there are wrestlers who're on the road most of the year that are much more "deserving" to be at WrestleMania than some of these part timers, I understand why said part timers are used as special attractions. As I alluded to, Shaq and/or Kobe wrestling in a match at WrestleMania would draw interest just for the novelty aspect. Personally, however, I feel that WWE management is sending the wrong message to its locker room by continually elevating special attractions and/or wrestlers who've been gone for years ahead of those that fans have been watching week after week. It might not be the intention of management to send such a message, but it's being sent all the same.

 

[chicagokmc]

I'm a NBA fan, and I think the physicality of the NFL and even the NHL translate better to the physical actions in wrestling than the NBA. NBA superstars are the least physical (because today's NBA rules allow its stars to run amok, no more jordan rules) of the NBA players and are the ones I'd be least interested in seeing in any significant wrestling role. If there is a basketball player out there, regardless of race, that is the size and build of a Titus O'Neil, he (assuming he has some personality) might have the foundation for someone that could be molded into a wrestler. I just don't think a "name" NBA player would be that guy.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

I'm a NBA fan, and I think the physicality of the NFL and even the NHL translate better to the physical actions in wrestling than the NBA. NBA superstars are the least physical (because today's NBA rules allow its stars to run amok, no more jordan rules) of the NBA players and are the ones I'd be least interested in seeing in any significant wrestling role. If there is a basketball player out there, regardless of race, that is the size and build of a Titus O'Neil, he (assuming he has some personality) might have the foundation for someone that could be molded into a wrestler. I just don't think a "name" NBA player would be that guy.

I think a LeBron James vs The Rock match would be extremely epic.

A 5-10 minute match between the two would bring a lot of attention to WWE.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

There are too many talented young guys who have been undeservingly forced into the midcard and in WM season they are forced lower so if you add NBA guys to the WM card talented guys like Ziggler, Sandow, Axel and Kofi may not even get on the card which isn't good business. I don't like part timers in WWE unless they have an RVD style contract with 90days on 90 days off but if they have a contract like Lesnar and only has 3 matches a year I don't think they should return. Guys wrestled around 200+ events a year deserve the big spots at WM not NBA players

Ziggler, Kofi, Sandow and Axel weren't part of WrestleMania.

LeBron / Shaq >>>> WWE Jobbers

 

[OYDK]

It would garner a shit ton of attention if they could get Lebron in the ring but let's be serious... The match would SUCK. It would make both Lebron and The Rock look bad because it would just be a botch fest. Now of course I don't know for sure but whenever an athlete has gotten into the ring with a wrestler, the crowd usually ends up booing the match straight out the building. (Remember DDP and Karl Malone vs Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman... MY GOD WAS THAT AWFUL). I think it would be pretty sweet if Lebron did a program with The Rock where he gave somebody like The Miz a clothesline or body slam but that's about it.