A hell of a lot of NBA news went down in the Summer of 2017. Somewhere between bizarre free agent signings and freak trades stood Hoodie Melo. The Baltimore New York native made a lot of people look stupid in pick-up games and did it all wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. The internet had a meeting and decided to not let this go away.
Meanwhile in pro wrestling, WWE Superstar and notable Bulgarian Russian Rusev had a match last weekend against perpetually there WWE Superstar Randy Orton. During a backstage interview prior to Sunday night’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, Hoodie Rusev was revealed:
Unfortunately, Hoodie Rusev lost at Hell in a Cell and so therefore, according to Hoodie Rusev, lost at life. Does this mean we’ve seen the last of Hoodie Rusev? Maybe the Hoodie powers only apply to house shows (the WWE equivalent to pick-up games)?
They already have a couple of things in common. Rusev’s wife is a reality show star, Carmelo’s kind-of wife is kind-of a reality show star. Neither has ever won a world title but both have come close. Carmelo’s Denver Nugget Western Conference Finals run in 2009 mirrors Rusev’s 2015 Royal Rumble, the closest thing to an annual “playoffs” for professional wrestling.
If Carmelo had slain Kobe he would have had a championship opportunity in the NBA Finals, much like had Rusev tossed Roman Reigns (WWE’s Kobe Bryant, maybe) at the very end of the match, he would have headlined Wrestlemania.
Carmelo Anthony was just traded to a team that (somewhat) recently lost a superstar, has the reigning MVP, and pulled off a surprise trade for another star. The WWE equivalent is Rusev gets traded to Raw (which recently lost John Cena and has the reigning MVP Roman Reigns) and joins forces with a team that already has a handful of superstars. Is Rusev joining The Shield? Is The Shield the OKC of the WWE? Am I analyzing this far too much?
Bottom line, if tossing a new garment on Rusev’s bod is what it takes to get this man back to driving literal tanks at Wrestlemania, I’m all for it. Here’s hoping we haven’t seen the last of Hoodie Rusev and he can improve on his 0-1 record. Or at least give Rusev a higher WWE 2k18 rating than The Rock (WWE’s Lebron James).