Tom Brady is getting into professional wrestling. Over the weekend he was involved in two sad, staged public incidents with Logan Paul. First, he slapped him at Fanatics Fest in New York and then was “caught on video” giving Paul the finger at the World Cup final. On Monday morning’s episode of “Wake Up Barstool,” Dave Portnoy rightly called out Brady for tarnishing his legacy with these stunts.
“This to me is one of the great downfalls of an icon with Tom Brady,” said Portnoy. “The way he is acting post-retirement, it’s a legacy that is being _lamified_. I use that word; people are like what does that mean? It means he’s becoming very lame. And it’s a guy, who very few athletes, Michael Jordan, Messi, Beckham, Gretzky, these are superstars that seem so above the fray, that you don’t want to see them mixed up in all sorts of low-brow, Tik-Tok, flag football leagues in Suadi Arabia, or whatever it is. The wrestling. Everything about him is cringy right now to me. And it’s highlighted with this wrestling stuff.”
No lies detected. Look, there’s nothing wrong with professional wrestling. It’s extremely popular. It’s so big that some wrestlers have been able to transcend the sport and become mainstream stars. And a lot of athletes have gotten involved in wrestling and pulled it off without embarrassing themselves. Just look at Karl-Anthony Towns in the ring with Danhausen in New York this weekend.
That’s a fun moment and KAT completely pulled it off. Meanwhile Brady is having pretend slap fights in public with a YouTuber because they are supposed to have beef from a flag football game like people don’t know that wrestling is fake. We know what KAT did in that video was rehearsed. But doing it outside the confines of a professional wrestling show is weird.
Later in the “Wake Up Barstool” clip host Brandon Walker compares Brady to Hawk Tuah and The Rizzler. I’m old enough to remember when Brady used to be compared to Patrick Mahomes and Joe Montana. Now he’s showing up in a casket like an 8-year-old pretending to be The Undertaker.
> TOM BRADY’S WWE ENTRANCE WAS INSANE 🔥
>
> He rose out of a casket while his iconic 28-3 Super Bowl comeback against the Falcons played on the screen. [pic.twitter.com/tdFiyibFNF](https://t.co/tdFiyibFNF)
>
> — FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) [July 18, 2026](https://x.com/FadeAwayMedia/status/2078527952380174348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Brady knows that he was actually involved in the 28-3 game, right?
The silver lining here for the poor and middle class is that this proves beyond a reasonable doubt that money does not buy happiness. And apparently neither does fame or success. You’ll never stop seeking attention from somewhere pointless.
Brady won seven Super Bowls. He’s considered the greatest quarterback of all-time. He has more money than he’ll ever be able to spend and currently has a job that will pay him $375 million to work weekends five months a year. He was married to the richest supermodel in the world. And now Bill Belichick is the cooler guy.
How is this what he’s choosing to do with his time instead of literally anything else? If Tom Brady wants to wrestle, that’s fine. He doesn’t need to “sell” an appearance at Wrestlemania or some other event. He just needs to say he’ll be there.
Instead, he really has chosen the lamest path possible to the ring.