My first two loves in childhood were basketball and wrestling. While my interest in both have fluctuated over the years, both play a large role in my life these days. It’s quite frankly the only reason I still own a television.
Happy NBA opening night!!!
These are indeed my rankings of how the NBA teams will finish in the standings with a wrestling twist as many of us center in the venn diagram of hoops and pro wrestling love. You can check out last week’s Eastern Conference edition here.
1. San Antonio Spurs are The Undertaker
Old and awesome. That’s the motto they follow. I would say the NBA equivalent of the Undertaker’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak is the Spurs current streak of winning 50+ games for the past 14 seasons. You see the critics doubt them every year.
In Undertaker’s case, it’s shots at his age, weight, in ring shape and questioning his ability but he has by far the best match on every Wrestlemania. Age is always the doubt with the Spurs but Tim Duncan having an Undertaker WM performance all season last year showed just how great he still is. San Antonio will put most of their West counterparts in a casket this year.
The Spurs also have used Undertaker’s theme song for the introductions of their opponents with the emphasis that they are dead men walking.
2. Oklahoma City Thunder are Randy Orton
I’m a huge Kevin Durant fan so it pains me to say this. The Thunder’s rise to the top tier of the NBA was similar to Randy Orton’s ascension to being the youngest World Champ in WWE history. Everyone loved them because they showed potential with a ceiling we very rarely see in their respective fields.
The plight of Randy Orton started after everyone began to view him with a higher expectation he was never able to truly fulfill. Soon after he started to face injuries (Russell Westbrook), attitude problems (Russell Westbrook) and just flat out not being better than the counterpart face of the brand.
Last week, we touched on the Cena to LeBron comparison and it’s true here again. Orton had no chance at surpassing Cena and it’s looking like a very difficult task for Kevin Durant to get his ring in the near future with LeBron dominating the league. I have hope for him and expect him to eventually win it all but in the short term, he’s the Orton to Cena’s LBJ.