WWE Stars, Pro-Wrestlers Pay Tribute To Kobe Bryant On Social Media

Before the Royal Rumble started, WWE stars went on to pay their respects to Kobe Bryant, who tragically died together with her daughter Gianna after a helicopter crash.

The 41-year old Bryant’s private helicopter was on their way to Mamba Sports Academy when the disaster struck. The helicopter crashed in Calabasas, CA and the casualties include the two of them. None of the passengers survived in the accident.

With their ongoing PPV, the WWE posted on their social media a memorial of the “Black Mamba” with the hashtag #MambaForever

The WWE event is happening in Houston, TX and is expected to bring out some fireworks and some rumors about former stars returning to the competition but some of them still took time to pay their respects to the basketball legend, who won two Olympic gold medals for the United States.

Kobe and Gianna were spotted watching live games together as the former is sharing his basketball knowledge with the latter. The two were on their way to Thousand Oaks, CA for a basketball game where Kobe was to coach her 13-year old daughter.

He played his entire NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers that spanned for 20 years. During his stay, he’s won five NBA championship for the Lakers with him being named the Finals MVP twice. He’s also an 18-time NBA All-Star and was named the All-Star MVP four times. Known for his offensive arsenal, he was named to the NBA All-Defensive First team nine times, including six straight years from 2006 to 2011, and was on the Defensive Second Team three times.

Drafted third overall in the 1996 draft, Kobe went on to become a two-time scoring champ and both of his jersey numbers, 8 and 24, were retired by the Lakers following his retirement in 2016.

NBA Teams that were playing paid their respects by taking 24-second shot-clock violations and eight-second violations – in honor of the jersey numbers Kobe used in his career.