Recap of RFD-TV’s The American And The PBR’s Iron Cowboy Events That Made History!

American Iron Cowboy

This weekend the Professional Bull Riders Organization and RFD-TV joined forces to make a weekend full of setting records and making history that will change for face of professional rodeo for years to come.  AT&T Stadium in Arlington Texas was the site for the PBR’s Dr. Pepper Iron Cowboy V event as well as the RFD-TV’s The American, which will go down in the history books as the richest one day professional rodeo event in the history of the sport.  Each day over 50,000 people packed into the stadium to witness what would eventually change many rodeo contestant’s lives in just one day.  I have got to say that both organizations worked flawlessly together to bring these two fantastic events together into one memory making weekend for those in attendance and even for those watching at home.  The entire Dallas Cowboys and AT&T Stadium staff went out of their way to make sure all those involved were treated like the first class athletes and staff that they are and I applaud them for doing such a fantastic job throughout the entire weekend as well.

The first event of the weekend was held on Saturday night and featured the best bull riders in the world with the Professional Bull Riders Dr. Pepper Iron Cowboy V event.  The bracket style event started off with a BANG featuring a pre-show concert from Nashville Recording Artist Justin Moore for all the bull riding fans to enjoy while getting seated.  Justin played an one hour set that included all his past and present chart topping hits and he made sure that each and every ticket holder was ready for a huge night of non stop action on the arena floor!

Justin Moore 4

Justin Moore opens up Iron Cowboy V

After the great fans of the Professional Bull Riders were warmed up from the Justin Moore concert they were ready for the live action on the arena floor.  The PBR’s Dr. Pepper Iron Cowboy V was an event that will not too soon be forgotten as the riders competed for a chance to ride Bushwacker for $1 million dollars.  Once everything was said and done it was the Brazilian bull rider Joao Ricardo Vieira was the one to win the event and was given the chance to match up with 2013 PBR Bucking Bull World Champion Bushwacker for a $1 million dollar payday.  He was not able to make the eight seconds but still took home a nice check for winning the Iron Cowboy V event at AT&T Stadium.

Final Bracket

The completed bracket following the  Iron Cowboy V                    Photo Credit: DMW Photography

Once the PBR’s event was over it was on to Sunday afternoon and the richest one day rodeo in the history of the sport, RFD-TV’s The American, to take center stage.  What was going to happen inside AT&T Stadium was going to revolutionize the professional rodeo industry for many years to come.  The American was going to make history and set records for media outlets and rodeo fans in general to talk about for weeks, if not years, to come.  You could feel the excitement in the air from both the fans and the contestants all day while walking around the arena floor and up in the press room.  The day was going to change lives of so many of the contestants participating in this one day event.  After everything was said and done over $2 million dollars had been paid out to the first ever champions of the RFD-TV’s The American.  Everyone would have thought that the “qualifiers” that won money would have their lives changed forever but it was after the rodeo and watching the reactions of those well known athletes that brought the entire day into prospective.

There was one “qualifier” that won his event and took home a huge payday on Sunday evening.  Bareback rider Richmond “Richy” Champion started off the evening’s “shoot out” rounds with a in in the bareback riding making sure that he was in the hunt to win at least part of a $1 million dollar paycheck.  There were four “qualifiers” that made the “shoot out” rounds and the other three were in the barrel racing.  All that Richy had to do was watch the event, sit back and wait for the barrel racing, then see if he was going to be a millionaire or have to split his huge payday with someone else.  Once the barrel racing was over Richmond Champion, 21 year old bareback rider, became an instant millionaire by winning $1.1 million dollars in one day at the richest one day rodeo in the history of the sport by being the only “qualifier” to win their respective event!!

Richmond Champion

21 year old bareback rider, Richmond Champion, wins $1.1 million dollars at  The American

Even with the excitement of seeing one cowboy receiving a $1.1 million dollar payday the amazing day did not end there.  Remember that the top contestants from the other six events were there to compete for their share of the $2 million dollar prize money as well.  Each winner of the other events was awarded a $100,000 payday themselves and the second place contestant in each event also received a $25,000 paycheck.  There were many top names in the sport of professional rodeo that earned money at this premiere event as well and talked to the Rodeo Round Up about how this one event changed even their lives along with the future history of the sport of Professional Rodeo!  The winners for the first ever RFD-TV’s The American were:  Bareback Riding, Richmond Champion; Saddle Bronc Riding, Wade Sundell; Tie Down Roping, Tyson Durfey; Steer Wrestling, Hunter Cure; Team Roping, Kaleb Driggers and Patrick Smith; Barrel Racing, Lisa Lockhart; and Bull Riding, J.B. Mauney!

Stay tuned to the Rodeo Round Up throughout the next couple of weeks as I will be posting one new story/interview each day with your favorite cowboys and cowgirls as well as winners of the history making RFD-TV’s The American.

 

 

 

 


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