Last night, while Dwyane Wade was kicking Ramon Sessions in the balls on purpose and then acting all offended that someone could even insinuate that he’d ever commit a dirty foul, LeBron James was distracted by the Charlotte Bobcats’ No. 1 fan (I assume) and former WWE and WCW champion Ric Flair. It turns out that Flair was sitting courtside as the Bobcats lost their 16th consecutive game with a 105-92 ball-stomping by the Miami Heat.
Apparently James was a huge wrasslin’ fan as a child, and the Nature Boy had quite the impact on his, specifically in that Flair possibly invented the baller lifestyle.
“When I was a kid, I loved wrestling,” James told the Associated Press. “He was one of the guys I loved, too. I think he’s one of the creators of what we call swag these days with the Rolexes and the stretch limos and all the girls and all that stuff. He’s one of the creators of swag.” (Via CBS Philly)
In case you’re wondering, the other creators of swag include Richard Nixon, Phyllis Diller and my dad, because he can totally beat up your dad.
But before we slide a little further into love with James, let’s just remember that he’s been on a non-stop PR tour ever since the Heat won the NBA title. He wants the common man and average American to love him, so of course he’s trying to relate to our love of cheap cell phone plans, colorful shoes and one of the most entertaining wrestlers of all-time.
You see, it starts with Ric Flair and then soon he’s like, “Hey, you know what was an awesome TV show? Perfect Strangers.” And you’re like, “Yeah, that was a good show, let’s do the Dance of Joy.” And then he hesitates while one of his boys drugs your drink and you wake up in a dumpster. Fool me once, LeBron. Fool me once.
