Tom Brady spent this month lobbying for a job that has nothing to do with football, and the campaign has now produced a slap, a pair of middle fingers, a very annoyed Sunday morning column from a rival network, and now a report that an actual WWE deal may be in the works.
TMZ Sports: Brady and WWE Are Actually in Talks
There is now a reported reason behind all of it. TMZ Sports‘ Michael Babcock reports that Tom Brady and WWE are in talks for a potential partnership, a full WWE run for TB12, and that the deal in the works is what explains the escalating public back-and-forth with Logan Paul, the slap and the flipping of the bird included.
It Started With a Podcast
On Thursday at Fanatics Fest in New York, Brady sat down with Cody Rhodes for a live taping of Rhodes’ show and made his pitch directly to WWE leadership. “I’ve been waiting for [WWE president] Nick Khan to come up with some storyline for me to get in the mix,” Brady told Rhodes. “I feel like I’m retired from football, and I have an opportunity to go out there and still showcase that I’m a little bit of an athlete.”
He also already knows what role he wants. “It’s such an easy choice,” Brady said. “I’m a bad guy. I’ve always been a bad guy. When you go on the road and you’ve had some success in the NFL, they don’t like you. It’s an incredible feeling when you work that entire day to basically try to send the crowd home early.”
The heel talk traces back to a running beef with Logan Paul. Earlier this year, Brady called WWE “cute” while promoting a Fanatics flag football game, and Paul fired back by calling the seven-time Super Bowl champion “washed up.” Brady namechecked both Rob Gronkowski and Paul as guys who’d already tried pro wrestling and said he figured he could get in the ring for at least one match.
Then Came the Slap
The storyline moved fast. The very next day at Fanatics Fest, Brady slapped Paul across the face in front of a live crowd, an actual open-hand shot that the Fanatics account posted with the caption “Round 100 of this never ending beef.”
And Then Middle Fingers at the World Cup Final
Two days later, the feud followed both men to the biggest stage in the world. Brady and Paul were seated in neighboring suites for Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, and video circulating online showed the two flipping each other off across the gap, with Fanatics founder Michael Rubin stepping in to play peacemaker.
Not Everyone Is Enjoying the Show
NBC Sports‘ Mike Florio used his Monday Pro Football Talk column to tell Brady to knock it off, calling the whole thing “bizarre” and “beneath him.” Florio’s case: Brady already has more jobs than most people can count, a FOX analyst deal reportedly worth $37.5 million a year, a piece of the Raiders, and a statue at Gillette Stadium, so a “goofy WWE storyline” isn’t exactly a career necessity. He argued Brady is chasing a “phony-baloney feud” that wrestling fans never asked for.
Fair or not, it’s the kind of pushback that tends to follow any crossover star once WWE comes calling, and it hasn’t slowed anything down. The slap and the middle fingers both happened after Brady made his intentions public, and neither side has walked anything back.
Where This Goes Next
WWE hasn’t officially announced a storyline, a date, or a signing. But with TMZ Sports now reporting that talks are underway, the podcast pitch, the slap, and the World Cup middle fingers look less like a random celebrity whim and more like the opening beats of an angle WWE is quietly building toward. Whether it ends in an actual match is the only piece still missing.
