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Tom Brady is arguably the greatest football player of all time.
So when his time on the field came to an end, it made sense that he would step into the broadcast booth, buy a stake in an NFL team, and bask in his status as the sport’s premiere elder statesman.
This new phase of his career, however? Yeah, we don’t think anyone saw this coming.
As we previously reported, Brady slapped Logan Paul at Fanatics Fest over the weekend.
The pair purported to be in the midst of a heated argument, but pretty much everyone who’s seen the footage immediately clocked it as a publicity stunt.
The charade continued at the World Cup Final on Sunday, where Brady and Paul were spotted conspicuously flipping their middle fingers at one another.
The theory is that Brady is planning a foray into the realm of pro wrestling with the help of his friend, billionaire Fanatics founder Michael Rubin.
And many observers — some of them longtime Brady supporters — are not fans of this new phase in the GOAT’s career.
One such critic is Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
“Can somebody please shake Tom Brady and tell him to get as far away from Michael Rubin as possible and stop lamifying his entire legacy,” Portnoy wrote on X (formerly Twitter) today.
The tweet echoes comments that Portnoy made on a recent Barstool podcast.
“[This is] a legacy that is being lame-ified,” Portnoy said (via Page Six).
“You don’t want to see him mixed up in lowbrow TikTok flag football leagues in Saudi Arabia or whatever it is. Everything about him is cringey right now to me.”
Many have criticized Brady’s sudden interest in bizarre publicity stunts following his multiple interactions with Paul over the weekend.
Others argued that this is really nothing new, as Brady has a long history of problematic behavior (including his rumored relationship with Alix Earle).
“Tom Brady was involved in a crypto scam, sold people a bunch of junk science, strong-armed his way into a minority ownership position while remaining an analyst, and is probably (definitely) dating someone half his age,” wrote sports journalist Keagan Stiefel,” adding:
“WWE, though. THAT is where we draw the line…”
But perhaps the best take comes from NFL commentator Kyle Brandt, who quipped that Brady’s involvement with the WWE is “like Daniel Day-Lewis going on Love Island.”
The biggest difference, of course, is that, unlike Brady stepping into a WWE ring, DDL on Love Island is something we’d actually like to see.
