What’s the story?
Rusev felt he was slighted recently, and as is often the case for celebrities these days, he took to Twitter to call out the offending party.
Whether in reality or just within his character, Rusev seemingly had his eyes on a spot in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, scheduled for Friday, Feb. 17. When the rosters came out without his name on either of them, the Bulgarian Brute was upset.
In case you didn’t know...
The NBA holds several events surrounding its All-Star Game each year, which is held in February. Alongside events like the Slam Dunk Contest and 3-Point Contest, the Celebrity Game helps create an entertaining weekend for the fans to enjoy, with this year’s festivities taking place in New Orleans, Louisiana.
While Rusev didn’t make the cut, other celebrities like actor Nick Cannon and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban did. To be fair, no true pro wrestlers were chosen, although rapper Master P – who spent time on two NBA rosters – is on one of the teams. He led the No Limit Soldiers faction in WCW in 1999 during a somewhat ridiculous feud against Curt Hennig’s West Texas Rednecks.
The heart of the matter
This is likely just Rusev being silly on Twitter. While he has been noted as a sports fan, attending various events in the United States, there has been little indication that he has any known basketball skill.
What’s next?
Probably not much will come of this for now, since the event is in just a couple days, and the rosters are already set.
That said, it would be good for the WWE to get representation in events like this, so perhaps Rusev openly asking for a spot could open a door down the road for him or another superstar.
Sportskeeda’s take
If we all say our prayers and eat our vitamins, maybe – just maybe – we could see Rusev on the NBA basketball court one day, and that would be absolutely fantastic. The Celebrity Game is intended for pure entertainment purposes and helping draw eyeballs to the NBA, so a television personality of any sort actively campaigning to get involved is bound to get some attention from the NBA’s social media team.
Wrestling fans would surely get a kick out of Rusev getting in such a game, and it could also expand the WWE fanbase, even if only by a little.
Tweet speak
Rusev is generally a great follow on Twitter, for his humor and trash talk to other wrestlers. In fact, his Twitter display name is currently “Rusev on the Roof” because he recently watched the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” and enjoyed it.
