Tom Brady connects WrestleMania to Fanatics Flag Football to Las Vegas
Fake is the key word. Tom Brady’s beef with Logan Paul, Paul’s beef with Rob Gronkowski, and Brady’s beef with World Wrestling Entertainment are all as fake as plant meat.
It’s also so much fun.
That’s the consensus opinion of fans and attendees on promotional shenanigans ahead of this weekend’s Fanatics Flag Football Classic at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles and next month’s WWE WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Brady used the word himself, calling wrestling “fake BS” Wednesday night during the Flag Football Classic draft at a Beverly Hills hotel. The comments came shortly after Brady went on Paul’s “Impaulsive” podcast and told the WWE star in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t on the same athletic level as NFL players.
Paul objected, pointing out that he played linebacker in high school. He’s on the Wildcats’ flag football roster alongside NFL quarterbacks and captains Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels, so inquisitive minds can assess Paul’s bona fides in the three-team flag game televised at 1 p.m. PDT Sunday on Fox Sports.
In addition to the Wildcats team, the inaugural flag football event includes a team led by Brady and Jalen Hurts called the Founders and another made up of the United States men’s national flag football team.
While promoting the company, Brady poked at the wildly popular WWE organization, telling Paul, “You know, I love WWE. It’s very cute. But honestly, it’s like real football. It’s just real competition.
“I’m glad you’re here and finally competing in a competition that matters.”
Brady upped the ante after Sports Illustrated playfully asked how many WWE wrestlers it would take to sack him.
“They wouldn’t even come near me,” he replied. “Plus, if I had a good offensive line, they’d punch those guys in the throat and they’d probably cry.”
It’s all a clever segue into WrestleMania 42, which many fans suspect will position Brady as some sort of scripted villain during WWE’s annual five-day extravaganza. Last year, WrestleMania 41 attracted more than 100,000 fans to Allegiant Stadium, generating approximately $65 million in ticket revenue and reaching a global audience with more than 1 billion views on social media.
Adding the greatest quarterback of all time would only increase those numbers. The introduction of a surprise antagonist has long been a key ingredient in the WWE recipe, and at this point, Brady’s appearance is almost expected.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion has transformed himself into a glue guy, whose employment as a Fox Sports NFL television analyst, co-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders and key partner at Fanatics ties him with almost every major stakeholder in the Flag Football Classic and WrestleMania 42. Every stakeholder except WWE.
This gives Brady the right to take some good-natured shots in wrestling at the moment and positions him to become a top heel at WrestleMania 42.
It’s no coincidence that both events are partnered with Fanatics, the company that has grown from designing and manufacturing licensed fan gear to a ubiquitous global digital sports platform and e-commerce company.
What remains is the feigned feud between Paul and Gronkowski – Brady’s longtime pal and New England Patriots teammate. It started when Gronkowski called Paul a “flake” on a podcast a few days ago after Paul issued a million-dollar boxing challenge to NFL players and later backed out of a fight with former running back Le’Veon Bell.
The tongue-in-cheek beef culminated in a verbal volley at the flag football draft with Gronkowski biting Paul while balancing a paper plate filled with hors d’oeuvres and Paul yelling back over the head of 5-foot-5 comedian Kevin Hart, who somehow found himself in the role of peacemaker.
“No one can attack me. So if Logan Paul wants a piece of me, I’m ready to throw him on the field and even throw my fist and go for it, an all-out brawl on the flag football field,” Gronkowski said with a mischievous smile.
It’s crazy how Fanatics posted video of the exchange so quickly. It had racked up 250,000 views as of Friday morning. Gronkowski and Paul are following Brady’s lead, knowing that their job descriptions include promotion as well as performance.
