Fake is the operative word. Tom Brady\u2019s beef with Logan Paul, Paul\u2019s beef with Rob Gronkowski and Brady\u2019s beef with World Wrestling Entertainment all are as fake as plant-based meat.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also so much fun.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the consensus opinion of fans and participants alike to the promotional shenanigans ahead of this weekend\u2019s Fanatics Flag Football Classic<\/a> at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles and next month\u2019s WWE WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n Brady used the word himself, calling wrestling \u201cfake B.S.\u201d Wednesday night at the Flag Football Classic draft at a Beverly Hills hotel. The comments came shortly after Brady went on Paul\u2019s \u201cImpaulsive\u201d<\/a> podcast and told the WWE star in no uncertain terms that he was not on the same athletic level as NFL players.<\/p>\n Paul took exception, pointing out that he played linebacker in high school. He is on the flag football roster of Team Wildcats alongside NFL quarterbacks and captains Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels, so inquiring minds can evaluate Paul\u2019s gridiron bona fides during the three-team flag fun televised at 1 p.m. PDT Sunday on Fox Sports.<\/p>\n In addition to Team Wildcats, the inaugural flag football event features a team led by Brady and Jalen\u202fHurts called Founders and another consisting of the U.S. men\u2019s national flag football roster. <\/p>\n In promoting the venture, Brady poked the enormously popular WWE organization, telling Paul, \u201cYou know, I love WWE. It\u2019s very cute. But honestly, this is like real football. This is just real competition.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad you\u2019re going to be there and finally participate in a competition that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n Brady upped the ante after Sports Illustrated playfully asked how many WWE wrestlers it would take to sack him.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t even get near me,\u201d he replied. \u201cPlus, if I had a good offensive line, they\u2019d punch those guys right in the throat and they\u2019d probably be crying.\u201d<\/p>\n All a deft segue to WrestleMania 42, which many followers suspect is positioning Brady to be some sort of scripted villain during the WWE\u2019s annual five-day extravaganza. Last year WrestleMania 41 attracted more than 100,000 fans to Allegiant Stadium, generating roughly $65 million in ticket revenue and reaching a global audience<\/a> with more than a billion social media views. <\/p>\n Adding the greatest quarterback of all time would only boost those numbers. Introducing a surprise antagonist has long been a key ingredient of the WWE recipe, and at this point Brady surfacing is all but expected. <\/p>\n The seven-time Super Bowl champion has morphed into a glue guy, whose employment as a Fox Sports NFL television analyst, part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders and key partner with Fanatics binds him with almost every major stakeholder in the Flag Football Classic and WrestleMania 42. Every stakeholder except the WWE. <\/p>\n That gives Brady license to take good-natured shots at wrestling for now and positions him to become a high-profile heel at WrestleMania 42. <\/p>\n It\u2019s no coincidence that both events are in partnership with Fanatics, the outfit that has grown from designing and manufacturing licensed fan gear into a ubiquitous global digital sports platform and e-commerce company. <\/p>\n That leaves only the feigned feud between Paul and Gronkowski \u2014 Brady\u2019s longtime pal and New England Patriots teammate. It started when Gronkowski labeled Paul a \u201cflake\u201d on a podcast a few days ago after Paul made a $1-million boxing challenge to NFL players and subsequently backed out of a fight with former running back Le\u2019Veon Bell. <\/p>\n The tongue-in-cheek beef culminated in a verbal volley at the flag football draft with Gronkowski jawing at Paul while balancing a paper plate stacked with hors d\u2019oeuvres and Paul shouting back over the head of 5-foot-5 comedian Kevin Hart, who somehow found himself in the role of peacemaker. <\/p>\n \u201cNo one can tackle me. So if Logan Paul wants a piece of me, I\u2019m down to throw it down on the field and even throw my fist and just go at it, an all-out brawl on the flag football field,\u201d Gronkowski said with an impish grin. <\/p>\n