Knicks' Enes Kanter 'really serious' about a future WWE career
Enes Kanter is in some ways a standard 20-something. He may be 6-foot-11 playing for the New York Knicks, but he’s also a guy with roots in Nickelodeon and WWE Raw.
Kanter sat down with Michael Pina of Vice over the summer to answer questions about his “inexplicably complex life” for a profile published Wednesday called “The NBA’s Man of Many Faces.”
One of those faces that of a WWE fan — actually, it’s his “most intense obsession,” Pina wrote — and Kanter, 26, is dedicated to joining the organization’s ranks in NBA retirement.
He introduced himself as The Undertaker at the University of Kentucky’s 2010 Big Blue Madness and later became so nervous upon meeting the real Undertaker that his knees shook.
“It was funny as hell, and the fans flipped out,” Kentucky head coach John Calipari told Vice. “There were people falling from the upper deck to the lower deck when he came out.”
Kanter said he’s friends with some of the professional wrestlers and wants to become one when he retires from basketball. That won’t be for another decade, hopefully. (You can breathe, Knicks fans.)
“I’m actually talking to the people over there now. Vince McMahon, he knows me,” Kanter said. “I had dinner with [Paul Heyman] two, three days ago. I asked him how long he’s gonna do this and he said ‘as long as Brock [Lesnar] goes, I go, and then I’m with you.’ I’m like yes! Seriously. I’m really serious about it.”
Kanter tweeted in June about Brock Lesner, whom he calls his brother, and Paul Heyman.
Congrats to my brother @BrockLesnar for #435 as the reigning defending undisputed @WWE #UniversalHeavyweightChampion
⭐️Also living legend @HeymanHustle managed the two longest reigning WWE champions of the modern era 💯 💪 pic.twitter.com/LJQtg8HB9j
— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) June 12, 2018
The Vice profile then veered into TV with Kanter explaining that “Jersey Shore,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Home Alone” helped him learn English. He DMs with Mike the Situation, goes on in the locker room about being charged $10,000 for curtains and is outspoken about the Turkish government.
An “inexplicably complex life,” indeed.
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