Tom Brady Slaps Logan Paul on Stage at Fanatics Fest
Tom Brady has won seven Super Bowls with his right hand. On Friday, July 17, he used that same hand to slap social media star and WWE wrestler Logan Paul across the face on stage at Fanatics Fest in New York.
The moment happened during a panel at the Jacob Javits Center, one day after Brady told WWE superstar Cody Rhodes he was open to stepping into a WWE ring himself. Video of the confrontation, posted by Fanatics on X, shows Brady and Paul standing face-to-face with New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns positioned between them before Brady reached around Towns and struck Paul.
Fanatics captioned its clip “Round 100 of this never ending beef at Fanatics Fest,” treating the moment as the latest chapter in an ongoing rivalry rather than a one-off blowup.
What Set It Off
Paul says the slap came after he needled Brady about beating him in flag football. Paul wrote on X: “This happened bc I was roasting Tom for beating him in flag football. And he tries to smack me?? Horrible example for the kids.” He added, “Aura -100. Blocked. With a torn tricep.”
This happened bc I was roasting Tom for beating him in flag football. And he tries to smack me ?? Horrible example for the kids
Aura -100
+
Blocked. With a torn tricep https://t.co/3EMBQwYT9M— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) July 17, 2026
Brady’s response was shorter. He reposted the clip on X with the caption “Dork,” then replied directly to Paul: “I tried America… will try again next time I see this nerd.”
Multiple replays of the video show Brady’s open hand landing closer to Paul’s shoulder than a clean shot to the face, which is part of why so many people online immediately wondered whether the whole thing was a bit.
A Feud With a Real Paper Trail
This wasn’t invented for Fanatics Fest. Brady and Paul have been going back and forth since a February Fanatics event, when Paul argued his WWE career made him as athletic as NFL players. Brady pushed back at the time, calling Paul’s wrestling work “cute” during a separate interview.
The two then landed on opposite teams at the 2026 Fanatics Flag Football Classic in March, an event NFL.com covered as Brady’s squad lost. Brady reportedly jabbed at Paul during the draft and tossed the ball at him mid-game. Paul’s side won.
That loss is what Paul says he was bringing up on stage Friday when things turned physical.
Dork pic.twitter.com/zKOfL6VUOE
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) July 17, 2026
The Setup: Brady’s WWE Comments
The slap landed one day after Brady told Rhodes, on a live taping of the “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast, that he wants into a WWE storyline.
“I need to get an invite. I’ve been waiting for [WWE president] Nick Khan to come up with some storyline for me to get in the mix,” Brady said. “I feel like I’m retired from football, and I have an opportunity to go out there, still showcase that I’m a little bit of an athlete.”
Brady name-checked former teammate Rob Gronkowski, who has made WWE appearances, and pointed to Paul’s own wrestling career as the kind of crossover he’s chasing. NFL players popping up in WWE rings isn’t new — NFL.com has chronicled Lawrence Taylor and William “The Refrigerator” Perry doing it back when the promotion was still the WWF.
Asked why he’d want in, Brady leaned into the villain role he played for two decades in New England: “It’s such an easy choice. I’m a bad guy; I’ve always been a bad guy. I feel like when our teams did really well, I would always go into these stadiums… when you go on the road and you’ve had some success, they don’t like you.”
Where It Stands
Logan Paul says he’s pursuing legal action. He posted “I’m suing @tombrady” on Instagram alongside footage of the incident. Neither Brady, Paul, nor WWE has confirmed whether the whole exchange was staged, and no legal filing has been reported as of this writing — Paul’s comment remains a threat, not a confirmed suit.
Jake Paul, Logan’s brother, has since posted a warning aimed at Brady online, adding another layer to a story that keeps generating its own follow-ups by the day.
Whether real or a WWE-style work, the timing lines up too cleanly to ignore: Brady publicly angling for a WWE moment on Thursday, then trading blows with an actual WWE wrestler on a Fanatics stage on Friday. If it was a receipt for a future storyline, it’s already working.
