Las Vegas Raiders minority owner Tom Brady has made news recently with comments about professional wrestlers and specifically jawing with WWE Superstar and YouTube influencer Logan Paul. This year’s Wrestlemania event is being held at the Raiders home field for the second consecutive year and the synergy between the Raiders, Brady, and the WWE writes itself.
Is Tom Brady going to be at Wrestlemania? Nothing is official… yet.
Why would Tom Brady be at Wrestlemania
Ticket sales for Wrestlemania have lagged for a number of reasons, and this
is potentially an angle simply to sell tickets to folks wanting to see Brady get involved.
Two sides were in active negotiations as recently as a couple weeks ago to lock in Brady. So far nothing is confirmed and announced.
The six-man tag match featuring Logan Paul and IShowSpeed with Paul’s partner in The Vision, Austin Theory, going up against Jimmy and Jey Uso and L.A. Knight is the most likely place we will see Brady. That’s because Brady has been beefing with Paul for a couple months.
Explaining Tom Brady’s beef with Logan Paul
In February while recording Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast from the Super Bowl, Brady started taking shots at the YouTuber.
In March, Brady took more unnecessary shots at WWE wrestlers. Normally a little more guarded in his comments, this felt intentional.
“All their stuff is so cute and scripted and they know what’s going on. In a football game you don’t know it. So they wouldn’t even get me. Plus, if I had a good offensive line, they’d punch those guys right in the throat and they’d be probably crying and there’s no fake B.S we do in American football. So for those guys, it’d be a whole different story.”
To be clear, wrestlers put their bodies on the line all the time and get genuinely hit — in the business it’s called “taking a bump” — all the time. They are not cute or soft.
Lots of WWE wrestlers took to social media to call out Brady’s comments, whether in the scripted world of kayfabe or with a genuine reaction.
Brady’s longtime buddy Rob Gronkowski has wrestled matches in WWE and participated with Brady in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic which just so happened to also have Paul in attendance. While Gronk was recording a video about Paul, Brady popped in — again, this is probably in character trying to aggravate Paul — to have some strong words for Paul.
“That’s what Logan Paul is,” Gronkowski said. “He’s an entertainer. I mean, he has shown a lot of skills in those combat sports, but to actually have…”
“Logan Paul’s a bitch,” Brady said, running by Gronkowski. “Just say he’s a bitch.”
During the flag football game, Brady and Paul got into it. You can decide if this is boys being boys or starting something.
WWE wrestlers are begging Tom Brady to show up to Wrestlemania
WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes was asked about Brady this week, and offered his even-keeled thoughts.
“Such a fan of Tom. So it’s very hard for me to hear Tom go against wrestling a little bit, and then the way he went against it was unique where I believe he called it ‘cute’, ”said Rhodes on ESPN Radio. “At the time that Tom Brady was calling pro wrestling cute, he was promoting a flag football game with his buddies. The definition of grab ass… It hurt, so now I do want that to happen. It hurt, but also it’s Logan Paul who’s on the other side of this trash talk and I feel I love a good moment when Logan talks an incredibly big game and puts himself in a situation that maybe is out of his depth. But then also Logan has risen to the occasion from time to time … Who knows? I’d be interested to see it. I can’t go against Tom, although cute was a bit much.”
Seth Rollins, who often appears on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, Charlotte Flair, and the Bella twins are among the rest of the WWE superstars that want to see it happen.
Celebrities often appear at Wrestlemania
The WWE has a long history of integrating celebrities on The Grandest Stage Of It All. Athletes like Lawrence Taylor, Mike Tyson, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, Pete Rose, Floyd Mayweather, Shaquille O’Neal, and Rob Gronkowski along with celebrities like television’s Donald Trump, Travis Scott, Mr. T, Colin Jost and Michael Che have all participated in Wrestlemania events in various capacities. Bad Bunny, Johnny Knoxville, L.T., and Mayweather all fought actual matches, but that is probably not on the table for Brady.
This year, YouTuber IShowSpeed is already booked in a match alongside Paul, musician Jelly Roll is likely going to play a key role in a world title match, and Pat McAfee has inserted himself rather forcefully into the story.
If you’re a wrestling fan, or were one at one point, make sure and check out Cageside Seats, which is the SB Nation wrestling community. They have a great time each week talking wrestling with all the news, opinion, and great discussion you expect at an SB Nation site. If you get a minute this week, let folks there know your favorite Wrestlemania moment.
