FORT WORTH, Texas – The most talented bull riders in the world might be resting up this weekend ahead of the quickly approaching 2024 PBR Teams Championship.
But that doesn’t mean Western sports fans will be left in the dark to the fill their weekend void, as CBS Television Network is set re-air the 2024 Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo Saturday, Oct. 12 at 1:30 p.m. EST, revisiting all of the action-packed excitement inside AT&T Stadium.
Home to the NFL’s (National Football League) Dallas Cowboys, “Jerry World” has a standard and reputation of its own.
So, it’s only right that the most talented bull riders and sincerely skilled rodeo athletes wanted back in on the fun, with both the first-ever Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo taking place inside the state-of-the-art structure, closely followed by the 2024 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Championship.
Once everybody was accustomed to the unique staging tones and became adjusted to the event’s format (fans and athletes, alike!), it was easy to see why the head-to-head showcase would go down as one of the most entertaining events in Western sports – All while evolving and re-imagining modern day rodeo, taking competition to the next level.
Tapping a handful of former rodeo standouts to ensure squads were on the same page and understood all of the aspects of the event, stars like Bobby Mote, Charmayne James, Dale Brisby, Sid Steiner and beyond donned their coaching hats while passing on some words of wisdom from the locker room and sidelines.
Featuring six squads in total, each of Team Convoy, Team Jokers, Team Low Riders, Team Sledge Hammers and Team Misty Mountain Hop enjoyed the opportunity to hand-select their personnel during the inaugural Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo Draft in Nashville, Tennessee.
Competitors from the eventual event champion Team Free Riders were the last group of guys and gals in the fold, as they punched their ticket to the star-studded contest via their respective finishes at the WCRA’s Rodeo Corpus Christi, just days prior.
Surely sporting fans of all kinds can appreciate a good underdog story, right?
Regardless, that’s exactly what the showdown produced, seeing Team Free Riders eventually out-perform Team Misty Mountain Hop during the final head-to-head set of competitions.
RELATED: Free Riders go from underdogs to top dogs, winning Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo
Momentum can be the most dangerous element in any given competition – and Team Free Riders was obviously riding a fierce wave of it after shocking the rodeo world by finishing the job in the winner’s circle.
“Not everybody expected to get drafted, but at the same time, I feel like it puts a little bit of a chip on your shoulder. It did for me, because when we were at the draft, they were kind of just writing us off. Like, ‘Well, the benchwarmers.’ They had all kinds of funny nicknames for us,” Free Riders Head Coach Bobby Mote shared in a postgame press conference
“What I knew is that it’s hard to qualify for Rodeo Corpus, and it’s hard to win there, and these folks all won there, and all won $15, $20, $20,000-plus. And then they come in on a roll, and they’ve got something to prove. So really, our whole plan every single round was just to go make our run or make our ride.”
And they proceeded to do just that, storming to an early lead in the gold medal count that they never relinquished.
Capturing a gold medal in the barrel racing gold thanks Makenzie Mayes and Bayleigh Choate, bareback riding via strong showings by RC Landingham and Nick Pelke and team roping courtesy of Luke Brown/Jade Corkill and Jake Smith/Douglas Rich, they were dominant early and often.
In the championship round, which was a best-of-seven format, the Free Riders won bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, breakaway roping and barrel racing, defeating Team Misty Mountain Hop to take home $500,000 and gold medals galore.
RELATED: Free Riders win first-ever Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
To say the first-ever event of its kind was a success would be quite an understatement.
Especially when you consider more than 23,000 fans who attended soaked in a pair of performances from Kid Rock, Jelly Roll and friends, which cranked the volume (and vibes) to a whole other level.
Seeing the Michigan Man take the dirt in concert-opening fashion in the back of a custom Tesla Cybertruck (driven by none other than Bo Duke, himself), painted to the nines in orange paint and with the famous “01” on the car doors, imitating the famous General Lee look from the Dukes of Hazards days, there wasn’t a better way to unite his fans and the industry’s rodeo supporters.
RELATED: Inaugural Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo entertains rowdy crowd with dramatic finish, tons of tunes
Forever engrained in history as one of the most entertaining and dramatic showdowns in the rodeo world, Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo is set to re-air on CBS Television Network on Saturday, Oct. 12, beginning at 1:30 p.m. EST.
So, be sure to tune in and re-live the excitement of one-of-a-kind showdown as the PBR Camping World Team Series prepares to enter postseason territory!
Photo courtesy of Leo Loera/Bull Stock Media