HOUSTON, Texas – Two championship teams in PBR’s (Professional Bull Riders) new bull riding league – the 2023 World Champion Texas Rattlers and reigning 2024 World Champion Austin Gamblers – will play a pre-season rivalry game in Houston, Texas, when the organization’s elite Unleash The Beast returns for the second consecutive season, taking over Toyota Center on Jan. 17-18. 

The Rattlers and Gamblers, who have formed one of the top rivalries in the four-year-old bull riding league, will compete head-to-head inside the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets in the first iteration of the Texas Cup during the 2025 season. 

The game within a weekend of individual competition is part of the newly launched Monster Energy Team Challenge, presented by Camping World, an extension of the PBR Teams league which will showcase one rivalry game during select nights of Unleash The Beast events for 15 consecutive weeks ahead of the 2025 PBR Teams season.  

The Gamblers and Rattlers will play three times before the 2025 regular season begins in July, but nowhere will bragging rights be more intense than in Houston for the Texas Cup. 

In winning two of the league’s first three world titles, the Texas Rattlers and Austin Gamblers have already established themselves as dynasties, firmly etching their name in the league’s record books. 

Both compete under the leadership of bull riding icons. PBR Co-Founder Cody Lambert leads the Rattlers, while PBR Co-Founder and 1997 PBR World Champion Michael Gaffney and three-time PBR World Champion Adriano Moraes are at the helm of the Gamblers. 

The Texas Rattlers, based in Fort Worth, were the first team in history to record a perfect game, and in 2023 reached the pinnacle of the sport in being crowned the 2023 PBR Teams World Champions. Their rivals 190 miles south, the Austin Gamblers, finished atop the league’s regular season standings in 2022 and 2023, and finally reached the summit of team competition this past season, riding their way to the 2024 PBR Teams World Championship. 

In what is becoming one of team bull riding’s top rivalries, Texas leads the all-time Texas Cup rivalry by just one game, 7-6. 

In 2022, Texas won the series, victorious during three of their five showdowns, taking the lead when the Rattlers eliminated the Gamblers from the post-season tournament in Las Vegas. The following season, Austin claimed the series win early by winning the first three showdowns, but Texas battled back to dominate their last two meetings of the season, including the most important game of all in beating Austin to be crowned the 2023 PBR Teams Champions. The Texas Rattlers reclaimed the series lead in 2024, leading the rivalry 2-1 even though Austin dethroned them for the title of PBR Teams World Champions. 

The showdown between the Texas Rattlers and Austin Gamblers will represent the final 12 outs of the night during the PBR Unleash The Beast event on Friday, Jan. 17. Six riders from each team will attempt one bull each, and the team with the top aggregate score when the dust settles will win the Texas Cup. In addition to the riders’ outs determining the outcome of the bull riding game, qualified rides will also earn the riders points towards the weekend’s Unleash The Beast event and the 2025 World Championship standings. 

Following their showdown in Houston, the Rattlers and Gamblers will also play on March 28 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and April 18 in Nampa, Idaho.

Competition for the PBR Unleash The Beast event in Houston will get underway nightly at 7:45 p.m. CT on Jan. 17-18. Tickets are on-sale now and can be purchased online at ToyotaCenter.com, AXS.com and PBR.com, at Toyota Center’s Box Office or by calling PBR customer service at 1-800-732-1727.

PBR Elite Seats are available for avid fans who want an exclusive VIP experience while enjoying the world’s top bull riding circuit. These tickets, available in three tiers, offer premium seats, personal on-site concierge at the PBR fan loyalty booth, and more. For more on elite seats, visit https://pbr.com/elite-seats-unleash-the-beast, or call 1-800-732-1727.

For more information about the Texas Rattlers, visit https://pbr.com/teams/rattlers/, Texas Rattlers on Facebook, or @TexasRattlers_ on Instagram and Twitter.

For more information on Austin Gamblers, visit https://pbr.com/teams/gamblers/, @AustinGamblers on Facebook, @Austin_Gamblers on Twitter, @austin_gamblers on Instagram, @austin_gamblers on TikTok, and @austin_gamblers on YouTube. 

For more information about the PBR and to see the full 2025 PBR Unleash The Beast schedule, visit PBR.com.

Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media