After ensuring his place on highlight reels for years to come with his WWE antics on Sunday, Braden Hamlin-Uele hopes try celebrations become a regular occurrence in the NRL.
The Sharks prop's impression of The Rock's signature People's Elbow wrestling move resulted in Sportsbet donating $10,000 to the Men of League's Mose Masoe appeal as part of its Try July promotion.
And Hamlin-Uele, who pretended to punch teammate Jack Williams after barging over Warriors fullback Reece Walsh to score on Sunday, wants try celebrations to continue for more than just a month.
"One hundred percent - I mean, the NFL do it, we can’t we do it? It brings a bit of enjoyment to the fans," the front-rower said after Cronulla's gritty 20-12 victory at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
"It's not done out of malice or anything like that. It’s just enjoying the wins and enjoying the little things on the field. You can’t find them too often in the game so I think enjoy it while you can."
Players have embraced Try July and produced several memorable try celebrations, including Reuben Garrick bowling the Steeden like a six-stitcher, Tom Burgess attempting to surf and Cody Ramsey casting an imaginary fishing rod.
But Hamlin-Uele's move has taken the cake so far. Sportsbet doubled its usual $5000 donation because of how good it was.
It looked well-orchestrated, but Hamlin-Uele and Williams insisted they hadn't worked on the celebration at training.
Try July raises $65,000 for Mose Masoe in Round 16
"Apparently everyone was like, 'Woah, did he actually punch him?'" Hamlin-Uele said, with Williams adding: "We had to play it off. I wasn’t meant to hit the deck that hard. He did it pretty well."
Hamlin-Uele quipped the pair could follow in the footsteps of former Raiders, Dragons and Broncos winger Daniel Vidot, who is now signed to the WWE under the ring name Xyon Quinn.
Sunday's four-pointer was Hamlin-Uele's first of the year and he teased "there’s something else in store if [Williams] scores".
"He’s going to come off the crossbar - 'moonsault'," he joked.
Wrestling captured Hamlin-Uele's imagination as a youngster and he was always a big fan of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
"That’s why if you heard last year, my try-scoring theme song was the Rock’s theme song," Hamlin-Uele said.
Every try from round 17
"He wouldn't be my most favourite [wrestler] but he’s definitely up there. You’ve got to look at the Undertaker, Goldberg as well, Rey Mysterio when he was first coming through.
"I don’t follow [WWE] too much now. I think it’s a bit too unrealistic for me. I liked it when there was a bit of blood and everyone was getting on everyone's bad side and no one was really safe."
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Hamlin-Uele said it was fantastic to have fun while helping former Roosters and Panthers forward Masoe, who suffered a serious spinal injury when playing for Hull KR at the start of 2020.
"It’s massive. I understand it's a bit hard to celebrate when you’re coming from behind and chasing points, but if you can celebrate a try it goes to a massive cause," Hamlin-Uele said.
"He’s doing it tough so it’s the least we can do."
