Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is a fan-favorite on his home court, but on the road, he’s more than happy to play the villain. During a recent appearance on What’s Your Story?, the NBA All-Star explained why he loves being a heel and recalled a recent experience where he was loudly booed by the WWE NXT crowd in Orlando.
“I think that I’m a heel by nature. When I’m not in Indiana,” Haliburton stated. “Here, I think I smile a lot, I have fun. People enjoy when I’m here. They cheer me here, but anywhere outside of Indiana, I’m kind of a bad guy. I enjoy it. It’s so much more fun.”
He put that theory to the test during a recent guest spot on WWE NXT, where he was tasked with overseeing a contract signing. Despite NXT executive Shawn Michaels assuring him that the fans would love him, the Orlando crowd had other ideas. “I did a thing with NXT where I was announcing the contract between Ethan Page and Trick Williams, and Shawn was like, ‘Just go up there. The fans are gonna love you.’ I walked out there and I’m out there before it comes back to TV, and I’m already getting booed, like, before TV even started.”
Leaning into the negative reaction, Haliburton drew from his wrestling knowledge to get even more heat, using a tactic perfected by one of the all-time greats. “I have to take a jab at their sports teams. I guess that’s kind of the go-to that I’ve tried to learn,” he said. “Like The Rock in Sacramento back when he was playing the guitar… That’s my easy way to go. Even when I was at NXT, they were booing me, and I had to come up with something on the fly. So I was just like, ‘Yeah, I would boo too if I had to cheer for the Magic.’ And the Magic guys were mad at me. And I was like, they’re booing me. I had to come up with something.”
Haliburton’s expressive and sometimes confrontational style of play has made him a fan favorite in Indiana but a target for opposing fans, particularly in cities like New York and Milwaukee.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit What’s Your Story? with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
