LAS VEGAS – April Dirteater was standing in the stands at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday afternoon with tears streaming down her face as she looked on with pride at her husband, Ryan Dirteater.

April and her sister-in-law, Kassey Dirteater-Elliott, had been jumping up and down as Ryan rode Hundred Bad Days for 88.5 points during the PBR Team Series Championship Game for Nashville’s first qualified ride.

The ride was a huge turning point in the title game for the No. 8 Nashville Stampede and a major reason why the Stampede would soon be the Cinderella story of the inaugural PBR Team Series season.

No. 5 Arizona Ridge Riders had just taken a 91.5-0 lead thanks to Eduardo Aparecido’s ride on Pickle Moonshine, and all the momentum appeared in the Ridge Riders’ hands.

However, Dirteater was unfazed and channeled the same poise he used exactly six years ago to the day. On November 6, 2016, Dirteater won the first-ever PBR Finals held inside T-Mobile Arena with an 89.75-point ride on Brutus.  

Dirteater’s 2016 World Finals event title had always been the greatest achievement of his 14-year career.

That was until Sunday afternoon.

Dirteater and the Stampede upset the Ridge Riders 264-182.75 to win the 2022 PBR Team Series Championship. The Hulbert, Oklahoma, native teamed up with three-time World Champion Silvano Alves (85.5 points on Hunter) and 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco (90.75 points on Moonlight Party) to capped off Nashville’s storybook rise from being the worst team in the regular season to the crown jewel of PBR Teams.

Now, Dirteater has his own gold buckle to go along with Alves and Pacheco, who added another one to their illustrious collections.

“I had my eyes on it, and this was my goal,” Dirteater said. “This is an amazing feeling. This was the goal from the beginning, win a title with a team. Now I can walk away on top and enjoy retirement.”

Pacheco clinched the championship with his ride on Moonlight Party, but he was quick to credit Dirteater’s efforts on Sunday.

“Ryan is unbelievable,” Pacheco said. “He retired two years ago, and that is hard for a guy to stay out so long like that and to come back and ride good. He helped us a lot, and I am so proud of him.”

When Dirteater decided to unretire this past January, it was for this exact moment. The one thing he had failed to do in his career was win a world title, and he had this burning desire to take one stab at pursuing a Teams Championship.

April, understandably, was at first livid with her husband when he told her about his plans.

“The moment he told me in January he was going to come back and ride bulls, I was shocked and I was furious,” April said from the arena floor on Sunday as she was snapping photos on her cell phone of Dirteater next to the Montana Silversmiths Teams Championship buckle. “I was like, ‘You told me you were done!’ Then I was thinking, ‘Let’s see if he can get in shape and get back.’

“My emotions were all over the place, but I knew I would never hold him back from something he wants to do. I knew he was serious once he got on that first practice bull at the end of January. He rode him flawlessly, and it made me less nervous that his body could handle it.”

When Dirteater decided to unretire, he knew he had a ton of physical work to do. He glanced at the scale in his house and saw he was 180 pounds – nearly 20 pounds heavier than he was when he won the 2016 PBR World Finals.

Dirteater knew he had to not only get back into riding shape but also change his lifestyle habits. The 34-year-old had been living his best retired life, slamming as many slices of pepperoni pizza as he pleased and washing them down with sweet tea, soda, and anything else.

He was so far away from competing for a championship when he first decided to come back.

“It has not been easy,” Dirteater admitted. “Bull riding is never easy. After being a professional bull rider for 14 years, I knew what it took. I had the wisdom and knowledge to be it. After being away from the sport for a year, it was really tough to get into riding shape. I stayed away from fried food and ate more grilled. I tried to not drink a whole lot of my calories and paid attention to my hunger cues.”

April didn’t doubt her husband’s ability, but even she was surprised at how dedicated he was.

“I have never seen someone laser-focused as he was,” she admitted. “From the day he told me he was going to come back, he started training. He got back on a nutrition program, lost 25 pounds. Stopped eating pizza every day. He started riding his bulls really well, and he kept saying the one thing he wanted to do was get the World Champion buckle. The one thing he didn’t do in his career.”

Dirteater revealed his intentions to unretire publicly on April 14, his 34^th birthday, by posting a video of him riding a practice bull on his social media accounts.

Most of the coaches in the eight-team league did not seriously consider Dirteater for their team. One coach even laughed when asked if he would consider drafting the longtime fan favorite.

Many figured Dirteater was too old and damaged from a storied career that left him beaten, battered and bruised. Dirteater is typically half bull rider, half bionic man with his multiple knee and elbow braces.

However, one team in particular felt maybe the Cherokee Kid had something left to prove.

Nashville.

Coach Justin McBride and Director of Rider Development and Scouting Keith Ryan Cartwright were blown away by Dirteater when they interviewed him a few months before the PBR Team Series Draft. They knew he was serious, which got him even more pumped to keep training.  

“They had their eyes set on me, and they told me they were serious, and that got me excited for the draft,” Dirteater recalled.

Nashville shockingly reached for Dirteater with the 18^th overall pick in the PBR Team Series Draft, presented by ZipRecruiter, on May 23, despite knowing they had to limit how much they used him in the regular season. In fact, Dirteater only went 6-for-20 in the regular season before his heroics this weekend in Las Vegas.

McBride and Cartwright knew Dirteater could be a great veteran leader on the team, but they also selected him knowing the 11-time PBR World Finals qualifier could shine when the pressure was at its highest in Vegas. 

Not only did Dirteater play an essential role in the Championship Game victory, but he also rode Bubba G for 88.5 points to begin the postseason on Friday night when Nashville began its journey with a 264.75-176 upset of No. 3 seed Oklahoma.

“When I picked up the phone and called Dirt two months before the draft we talked about, yeah, sure, this is what you want to happen,” McBride said. “You know there is a real chance of that happening, but to see it come together, and the way it did because, buddy, he hung it out there today, is special.

“That is what I talked to the team about today. I said, ‘I don’t care where we finish, but you have to ride with your hearts. Turn your brains off. Ride with your hearts and your guts for each other. If you do that, you will never regret it.’ That is what Dirt did today, and he gets to walk out of here a World Champion.”

Dirteater stood on the floor of T-Mobile Arena, soaked in champagne, with tears in his eyes when he looked around at the sea of friends, family and teammates all wearing the blue and yellow Nashville Stampede colors.

Nashville went from being the last seed in the postseason with a horrid 7-20-1 regular-season record to being crowned World Champions.  

This was the moment he told his teammates about during the Nashville Stampede training camp in Texas when McBride had everyone go around the room and tell the team their purpose for joining PBR Teams.

“I told the team this is why I unretired. This is why I came back,” Dirteater said, shaking his head in disbelief. “I wanted this world title. This is the one I never won. Now, man, to know we did it, this is pretty freaking cool.”

Dirteater then laughed and concluded:

“I am going to go find a large pepperoni pizza and try and eat the entire thing.”