LAS VEGAS – Somewhere inside the bowels of T-Mobile Arena, the Nashville Stampede were playing what could only be described as a cross between Hacky Sack and soccer.
Portuguese filled the locker room as a group of Brazilian bull riders laughed, kicked a ball around and carried on as though it were any other Sunday afternoon.
Outside, the stakes couldn’t have been higher.
Inside, you wouldn’t have known it.
Nashville was just hours away from potentially becoming the first two-time champion in PBR Teams history, but there was no nervous pacing, no visible tension and certainly no indication that the weight of an entire season was resting on their shoulders.
Head coach Justin McBride emerged from the locker room with a warning and a grin.
“Enter if you dare.”
If the Broadway Boys were feeling the pressure, they had an unusual way of showing it.
Then again, they’d been here before.
Four years earlier, Nashville arrived in Las Vegas as the ultimate underdog, finishing eighth in the inaugural 2022 regular-season standings before shocking the league and winning the first PBR Teams Championship.
That team had a different look. A different roster. A different journey.
But a few familiar faces remained.
McBride was still at the helm. Assistant general manager Keith Ryan Cartwright was still behind the scenes. And Silvano Alves, who helped deliver that inaugural championship as a rider, was now standing beside McBride as an assistant coach.
Only this time, Alves couldn’t climb aboard a bull and do the job himself.
He had to trust the men he’d helped bring together.
And if the mood inside Nashville’s locker room was any indication, trust wasn’t something this team was lacking.
The confidence had been building long before championship weekend.
After four consecutive regular seasons below .500, Nashville flipped the script in 2026, opening with a franchise-best 7-1 record and eventually extending its winning streak to eight games.
For five weeks, the Stampede occupied the top spot in the standings, looking every bit like the team to beat.
But the season wasn’t without its bruises.
An 88.10-0 shutout loss to the defending champion Carolina Cowboys during Nashville’s August homestand snapped the winning streak, and the victories that once seemed automatic became harder to find.
There were losses. And there were plenty of opportunities for the team that had started so hot to unravel.
McBride never stopped believing in the group he had.
The Stampede ultimately finished third in the regular season, earning a coveted first-round bye at the PBR Teams Championship and giving themselves a chance to accomplish something no franchise had done before.
And while the rest of the league battled through Friday’s opening round in Las Vegas, the Broadway Boys were making themselves comfortable.
Without a locker room to occupy that evening, the team gathered in the hallways of T-Mobile Arena, waiting for the action to begin.
Canadian reserve rider Jayden Roy entertained himself by popping wheelies in a wheelchair.
Nearby, Alisson de Souza had his teammates laughing over a video of himself welding shirtless, without protective eyewear, holding a small piece of tinted glass in front of his face with one hand while welding with the other.
It was hardly the picture of a team preparing for one of the most consequential weekends in franchise history.
But that was Nashville.
A group of personalities, cultures and backgrounds brought together by a common goal, finding ways to enjoy the ride even when the stakes were at their highest.
Less than 48 hours later, those same men would be celebrating beneath the brightest lights in Las Vegas.
For Alves, getting them there had required far more than picking favorable bull matchups.
The three-time PBR world champion had spent the season helping shape a roster with deep Brazilian roots, including reuniting Alisson with his twin brother, Alan de Souza.
Alves knew Alan’s ability and believed the brothers could accomplish something special together. But bringing Alisson into the fold required patience, conversations and plenty of encouragement.
Once the opportunity presented itself, Alves pushed Alisson to practice regularly, sometimes getting on multiple bulls over the course of a weekend to prepare for the differences between Brazilian and American bucking bulls.
It wasn’t simply about getting him ready for the next game.
Alves was preparing him for November.
“I know sometimes, you know, we don’t use you much in the season, but I know preparation for the finals,” Alves recalled telling him.
He understood that the championship’s expanded six- and seven-man formats would demand more depth than the regular season.
The same belief extended to young Brazilian newcomer Damião Soares.
Alves traveled to Brazil himself, visiting Soares’ home and speaking with his family before helping the rider make the move to the United States.
It was a significant adjustment for someone navigating unfamiliar surroundings, including his first experiences with airplanes and major cities.
Alves opened his own home to Soares, helping him adjust to life in America while preparing him for the level of competition ahead. And somewhere along the way, Alves went from assistant coach to something resembling a second father.
The two-time championship team also had another important figure whose contributions wouldn’t appear on a scoresheet.
Daylon Swearingen, the 2022 PBR world champion and a member of Carolina’s 2025 championship team, had joined Nashville with hopes of helping another franchise chase a title.
Instead, a serious back injury suffered during the 2026 PBR World Finals left him sidelined for the Teams season.
But despite being sidelined for the entire season, Swearingen remained an integral part of the team, contributing in every way he could outside the arena.
He showed up to practices in Decatur, Texas. He helped prepare ropes. He attended team events, handled promotional obligations and supported his teammates in whatever way he could.
He couldn’t ride for Nashville, but he could still be part of what Nashville was building.
And when Championship Sunday arrived, he was right where he had been all season.
With his team.
Before the Stampede could worry about a second championship, however, they had to get through the Texas Rattlers.
Sunday’s semifinals introduced a six-on-six format for the first time in league history, raising the stakes for teams that had spent the regular season competing with five-man lineups.
In the opening semifinal, the No. 8 Arizona Ridge Riders continued their remarkable postseason run, defeating the No. 2 Austin Gamblers 448.70-265.80.
Arizona converted five of its six outs, including an 89.35-point ride from Everton Natan da Silva aboard Velvet Revolver, 89.55 points from Eduardo Aparecido on Bowser, 89.90 points from Elizmar Jeremias on Smack Ya and a personal season-best 89.85 points from Eric Novoa on Heavy Load.
Vitor Manoel Dias delivered the finishing touch with 90.05 points aboard Tankums, sending the Ridge Riders into their first Championship Game since 2022.
Arizona’s victory set the stage for a potential rematch of the league’s inaugural championship.
All Nashville had to do was get there.
Texas struck first in the second semifinal when Daniel Keeping covered Sucker Pop for 88.85 points.
Alan answered almost immediately, riding Spade for 88.60 points to bring Nashville within a quarter of a point.
Then Rogério Venâncio gave the Stampede the lead with 88.85 points aboard Humdinger in the third.
The Rattlers refused to disappear, with Josh Frost eventually earning 90.30 points on Milestone after a series of reride opportunities.
But Nashville still had one more rider waiting.
Riquelmi Silva, already responsible for five walk-off rides during the regular season, had made a habit of turning the final moments of a game into his own personal highlight reel.
He wasn’t about to stop in Las Vegas.
With the Stampede’s place in the Championship Game on the line, Silva matched up with Fringe Minority and delivered a career-best 91.95 points.
His sixth walk-off conversion of the season sealed a 269.40-179.15 victory and sent Nashville into the championship showdown.
Four years after their first meeting for the title, the Stampede and Ridge Riders would face each other again.
And for McBride, another opportunity had arrived to deliver one of the speeches his riders wouldn’t soon forget.
Back in 2022, a fiery hallway address inside T-Mobile Arena became part of Nashville’s championship story. McBride hadn’t realized cameras were capturing the moment.
Four years later, he was a little more discreet about those pregame words.
But the message behind them hadn’t changed.
Trust each other. Do your job. And when the moment arrives, be ready.
Across the arena, Arizona had every reason to believe its own story was still being written.
The Ridge Riders had entered the postseason as the No. 8 seed, survived the Championship Ride-In Game and stunned the No. 1 Missouri Thunder before eliminating Austin.
They had taken the longest road to Sunday, and they weren’t about to surrender their championship hopes without a fight.
The first seven-on-seven Championship Game in PBR Teams history began with a statement.
Everton opened for Arizona with a spectacular 90.55-point ride aboard Dead Red.
But Nashville had Alan.
And Alan had a habit that his coaches knew all too well.
The Brazilian was notorious for allowing the chute clock to wind down to its final seconds, sometimes waiting until only three remained before making his move.
It was a tendency shared by several of Nashville’s Brazilian riders, who often pushed the clock to its limit.
Yet, for all their last-second preparations, Nashville had avoided a chute-clock disqualification in every season.
They knew the gate would eventually open, whether they nodded or not.
On Sunday, Alan once again tested the clock.
With only seconds remaining, Alves pointed toward the gateman, signaling for the gate to be pulled.
Alan exploded from the chute aboard Freedom Fighter.
Eight seconds later, he had delivered a personal season-high 91.30 points.
Nashville had the lead.
And Alves was pointing again.
Only this time, it was toward Alan, celebrating in the arena.
The Stampede had come to Las Vegas with a game plan, and their riders were executing it.
In the second frame, Daniel Feitosa rode Yo Mamma for 88.75 points, extending Nashville’s advantage to 89.50 points.
But the ride didn’t come without controversy.
Feitosa was initially called for a slap, prompting Nashville to challenge the ruling.
The challenge was successful.
Another score went on the board.
In the third, Rogério was unable to cover King Tut, but the Stampede maintained their advantage.
Then came Alisson.
The same rider who had spent Friday night entertaining his teammates with welding videos now had an opportunity to bring Nashville one step closer to a championship alongside his twin brother.
He delivered.
Alisson covered Smooth Whiskey for 87.90 points, putting Nashville ahead by two qualified rides.
Arizona challenged the ride for a possible slap.
The challenge was unsuccessful.
The score stood.
Another successful ride. Another moment of validation for Alves’ belief in bringing the brothers together.
Arizona continued to fight, with Dias covering Corriente for 85.40 points in the fifth.
But Nashville had another Brazilian waiting in the wings.
Gustavo Luiz da Silva, one of the young riders who helped give the Stampede a new identity in 2026, was matched with EmmDee.
A possible touch at 2.58 seconds initially threatened his effort.
Nashville challenged.
And for the third time in the Championship Game, a review worked in the Stampede’s favor.
Gustavo’s 88.50-point ride counted.
Four qualified rides for Nashville.
And while the Broadway Boys had built themselves a commanding lead, the Ridge Riders still had a little magic left.
Cody Jesus erupted for a personal-best 92.40 points aboard Lights Out in the sixth, keeping Arizona alive and bringing the Ridge Riders within 88.10 points.
Nashville’s Damião Soares bucked off MF Cupcake in the bottom of the sixth, leaving the door open for one final Arizona attempt.
Then came Alex Cerqueira.
The Ridge Riders’ last hope was matched against Fire Zone, a bull that would finish the event with a 46.85-point out and Bull of the Event honors.
Cerqueira lasted 3.31 seconds.
And just like that, it was over.
Nashville Stampede 356.45.
Arizona Ridge Riders 268.35.
Four years after making history as the first team to win a PBR Teams Championship, Nashville had become the first to win two.
Hats came flying from the Nashville bucking chutes.
Chaps followed.
Then came Alves.
The assistant coach may have been the first man to reach the arena dirt, sprinting toward his riders, screaming, pounding his chest and wrapping his teammates in embraces.
For the man who had stood in those same championship celebrations as a rider in 2022, the moment carried a distinction nobody else in the league could claim.
He was now the first person to win a PBR Teams Championship as both a rider and an assistant coach.
And he had done it with the same franchise.
Asked later whether he had been nervous watching from the sidelines, Alves hardly hesitated.
“No. Not much. I’m too relaxed. High confidence in those boys,” he said. “I trust everyone.”
He had spent the season building matchups, developing young riders and helping the Stampede believe in what they could accomplish.
Sunday was simply the payoff.
“Just try to be calm, be relaxed, calm down and just ride your bull like you do in regular season every day,” Alves said of his message to the team. “Just have fun.”
And after the last Arizona rider hit the dirt, that was exactly what they did.
Roy, who had been perched around the nearby bucking chutes cheering like a spider monkey, made his way into the celebration, proudly holding the WWE championship belt in his hands.
“This is freakin’ badass,” he declared.
Swearingen, who had spent the Championship Game perched above the chutes near McBride, filming, cheering and living every ride alongside his teammates, finally got to celebrate the title he’d helped them chase all season.
A year after winning a championship with Carolina, he was part of another championship organization, even if a back injury had prevented him from contributing in the arena.
Nearby, Cartwright embraced Alisson.
The general manager Tina Battock had watched this franchise experience nearly every kind of high and low the sport could offer.
She’d seen the Cinderella championship in 2022, the difficult seasons that followed and the long process of putting together another team capable of winning it all.
Now, surrounded by the people who had helped bring Nashville back to the top, she was soaking in every second.
Champagne bottles popped.
The Broadway Boys grabbed Brazilian and American flags from the stage, waving them through the arena as the celebration spilled across the dirt.
For an all-Brazilian starting lineup representing a franchise in Tennessee, the image felt particularly fitting.
These were men who had left homes, families and familiar surroundings in pursuit of opportunities in America.
Some had been here for years.
Others, like Soares, were still learning how to navigate a new country, a different language and a new way of life.
But on Sunday night, underneath the lights of T-Mobile Arena, they were all part of the same story.
A championship story.
And the people who had helped make it possible weren’t simply coaches and managers.
They had become family.
That bond was perhaps most evident when Alan and Alisson found Cartwright amid the celebration.
“We love you, Keef,” the brothers told their assistant general manager.
The three exchanged heart hands before Cartwright pulled them into an embrace.
“These are my brothers,” he said.
For a team that had spent the season proving what could happen when people from different backgrounds believed in each other, it was a moment that required little explanation.
And for those who had been there since the beginning, Nashville’s second championship carried emotions that went far deeper than the arena dirt.
Four years is a long time in a sport that can change in eight seconds.
Since Nashville’s inaugural title in 2022, the rodeo and bull riding communities have said goodbye to beloved people and animals who helped shape the sport and the lives of those within it.
From familiar faces to legendary bulls like Man Hater, not everyone who would have loved to witness Nashville’s return to the top was there to celebrate in person.
But as history repeated itself beneath the lights of T-Mobile Arena, there was comfort in knowing they still had the best seats in the house.
The faces in the championship photo may have changed, but the connections that made Nashville what it was hadn’t disappeared.
They had only grown.
And McBride understood that better than most.
Standing inside T-Mobile Arena after his team’s victory, the two-time PBR world champion wasn’t particularly interested in talking about what another trophy meant for his résumé.
The accomplishments were historic, of course.
Nashville had become the league’s first two-time champion, joining its own 2022 title with a second championship after watching Texas win in 2023, Austin in 2024 and Carolina in 2025.
But for McBride, the real significance was standing all around him.
“The belt buckles, those things don’t mean anything to me. They really don’t,” McBride told Kate Harrison during the championship presentation on The CW.
What mattered was watching a group of young men stick together through the difficult moments, push each other, hold each other accountable and put in countless hours of work that nobody outside the organization would ever see.
He also made sure the people behind the scenes received their share of recognition, from Cartwright and the Stampede’s ownership to the families who had supported the coaches and riders throughout the season.
And McBride didn’t forget the teams Nashville had beaten to get there.
He praised Texas, led by his longtime friend and mentor Cody Lambert, and the resilience of an Arizona team that had fought through the toughest postseason path in the league.
Austin finished third, while Texas took fourth.
But Sunday belonged to Nashville.
And as the champagne began to settle and the celebration continued, McBride’s words offered a reminder of why this championship meant so much.
“When they’re old, fat men, this is what they’re going to remember,” he said. “That belt buckle will be tarnished, the money will be spent, but this memory they made with their teammates will last forever.”
From playing Hacky Sack in the locker room to champagne-soaked embraces on the arena dirt, Nashville’s journey was always about more than the men riding the bulls. It was about the brothers beside them and everyone who helped get them there.
The first championship made the Nashville Stampede part of PBR Teams history. The second made them one of a kind.
And long after the lights go down in Las Vegas and the celebrations become memories, they will remember that feeling, they will remember their brothers, and they will remember being legends.
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media