In 2004, the Detroit Pistons surprised the basketball world when they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.
The Lakers were led by Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, & Gary Payton, and were the favorites going into the finals after winning three of the last four NBA Titles. The Pistons had a balanced team with Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Ben Wallace, and Rasheed Wallace coming together to frustrate opponents.
The Pistons championship victory and swagger carried over to the start of the 2004-2005 season as they wore WCW World Heavyweight Titles for opening night to signify their reign as champions.
Speaking on Underdog Fantasy, Rasheed explained why he got WCW Titles for the time.
"I ordered these, I would say two weeks after we won the title. They came about a month and a half later. I ordered one for everybody, our GM, assistant GM, trainers, a couple of media guys, and of course, the team. All in all, I think it was 40-something belts. They came throughout the summer and I just sat on them. I didn't say nothing to nobody. It was the night before the opening game. I talked to security, I said, 'When I come in tomorrow, I'm going to call you when I get to the loading dock because I'm going to need your help. Bring one of the big carts with the wheels and shit.' Called them, 'meet me outside.' All you saw was long ass boxes. 'What the fuck is this?' 'You're gonna see. Watch.' Went into the locker room, I hid the belts, guys are doing their thing. After [Larry Brown] did his meeting, I was like, 'I got something for y'all. I got something we can go out there with.' We rolled out these bins and I passed everybody their box and they opened it and it was the championship belt. You should have seen the jubilation on everyone's face in the locker room. It was awesome. I was like, 'We have to wear these out.' We put on our warm up and we left the jackets off, we put the belts on, put the jackets over our belts. Everybody ran out, we're in the lay up line, Ben (Wallace) was like, 'Y'all ready?' We took our jackets off and everyone saw them. [Cheers]. All you saw was cameras flashing and shit. It was awesome," said Sheed.
The Pistons would return to the NBA Finals in 2005, but lost to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games.
WWE is in Detroit for the weekend as WWE SummerSlam comes to Ford Field. Fans can check out the current lineup for the show by clicking here.
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