Tom Brady had been talking about WWE just a day earlier. Standing beside Cody Rhodes, the seven-time Super Bowl champion admitted he was still waiting for WWE chief Nick Khan to give him a storyline. Brady even left the door open to stepping inside the ring himself, joking that he still had a chance to prove he was “a little bit of an athlete.” By Friday, he was sharing a stage with one of WWE’s most recognizable faces.

That face belonged to Logan Paul. At Fanatics Fest in New York, Karl-Anthony Towns stood between them as Brady and Paul traded jabs in front of the crowd. Brady then reached around Towns and slapped Paul, prompting Towns to quickly step in. The moment carried added weight because this was not the first time their trash talk had spilled into something physical: months earlier, Brady had thrown a football directly at Paul during their flag-football matchup, after weeks of telling him he was not on the level of NFL players.

Now, that onstage confrontation has taken another turn. Speaking with Puka Nacua, Paul explained what he believes pushed Brady to strike him, and reiterated that he intends to sue the former Patriots quarterback.

“It’s not like there’s a beef,” said Paul when Puka Nacua inquired about the alleged beef. “I just beat his ass at his own game that he said he was going to clown me at in flag football. And then I rubbed it in his face a little bit, and he’s a very competitive guy. And I think I got in his head…When we were on the field, and it was clear that they were losing the flag football game, he was getting pissed.

“And I haven’t seen him. I think it’s the first time we’ve seen each other. We were on stage yesterday, and I was just like, I’m just going to talk a little shit…but honestly, good for him for standing on business and doing something manly for once in his life. He tried to strike me, and I said, I’m here to collect the bag. I will sue. I will sue.”

It’s not the first time Paul has threatened to sue Tom Brady.

After Brady slapped him, Paul shared the clip on his official Instagram page, with a caption that read, “I’m suing @tombrady.” He has since continued to frame the incident as the latest fallout from their flag-football rivalry, while Brady has kept the exchange going online by calling Paul a “dork” and later a “nerd.”

But the tension between them had been building for months before either man found himself on the Fanatics Fest stage. And what began as a debate over athletic ability quickly became part of the spectacle surrounding Fanatics’ first Flag Football Classic.

It all started earlier this year when Brady made an appearance on the Impaulsive podcast. During the conversation, the two traded jabs while promoting the inaugural Fanatics Flag Football Classic. Paul argued that his athletic background, including playing football in high school and his WWE career, meant he could compete with NFL athletes. Brady had a very different assessment.

“No, you’re not the level. You’re a good athlete but honestly when I’m thinking of Saquon Barkley and I’m thinking of Odell Beckham,” said Brady, before adding, “It’s cute, I love WWE, it’s very cute, but this is real football, real competition … Let’s see if you can bring it.”

The exchange did not stay confined to the podcast. At the March 18 draft event for the flag-football game, Paul walked into a room full of NFL stars, put Brady on the spot and reminded him that he had “a lot to say” on Impaulsive. Brady played along, telling Paul, “We might have a fight this weekend.” Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, who was watching the back-and-forth, joked that he expected the two to make up after the game.

Three days later, Brady and Paul finally had their chance to settle the argument on the field. During the game, Brady sent a pass directly into Paul, prompting Paul to square up to him while Brady walked away smiling. It was another moment that looked heated on camera but still carried the playful tone that had defined much of their rivalry.

Ultimately, Paul’s team defeated Brady’s team 34-26, eliminating Brady’s Founders FFC from the round-robin stage. For Paul, that gave the trash talk a scoreboard. The man who had spent weeks being told that he was not an NFL-level athlete could now point to a win over Brady’s team.

And Brady’s response afterward made the rivalry harder to read as a simple personal grudge. Rather than dismissing Paul, Brady praised his preparation and performance, saying Paul had impressed him. That quick shift from on-field confrontation to public praise became another sign of how easily the two could move between competition and entertainment.

The “not an athlete” joke also refused to disappear. On March 17, while appearing on a Fanatics Collect livestream, Brady came across Paul’s WWE trading card and asked, “How do you even have a rookie card…you’re not even an athlete!” It was essentially the same argument Brady had made on Impaulsive, repackaged for another audience.

That pattern matters because the Brady-Paul rivalry was already being treated as more than an ordinary sports feud. A March report from the Los Angeles Times described the back-and-forth as calculated trash talk tied to Fanatics’ flag-football event and WWE’s WrestleMania, noting that the promotion blurred the line between competition and entertainment.

That does not establish that every interaction between Brady and Paul was scripted. It does explain why the July confrontation immediately raised questions about how much of their rivalry was genuine and how much was designed to keep audiences watching.

In July, Brady and Paul appeared together onstage at Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in New York. During a face-to-face exchange, Brady reached around Karl-Anthony Towns, who was positioned between them, and struck Paul with an open hand. Towns and others quickly intervened to keep the confrontation from escalating. The footage spread rapidly, with WWE itself amplifying the moment online, while Brady and Paul continued trading shots afterward.

Later, Paul explained on X that Brady struck him because he was “roasting Tom for beating him in flag football” earlier this year. He also wrote, “Horrible example for the kids,” followed by “Aura -100” and a reference to his torn triceps. Brady responded with “Dork” before later writing, “I tried America… will try again next time I see this nerd.”

The injury reference was not incidental. Paul was sidelined from WWE at the time after tearing his triceps during a match in May, although he was still publicly pushing for a return. That gave the Fanatics Fest exchange another layer: a WWE performer currently recovering from an injury was now being pulled into a physical confrontation with Brady, a man who had spent months questioning his athletic credentials.

There was also an unusual piece of timing hanging over the entire incident. Just a day before the slap, Brady had openly said he wanted a WWE storyline and told Cody Rhodes, “I need to get an invite. I’ve been waiting for Nick Khan to come up with some storyline for me to get in the mix.” He even suggested he could do at least one match.

That coincidence is one reason the confrontation has been met with skepticism as well as shock. Still, there has been no official confirmation from Brady or WWE that the incident was staged, so the safest framing is that the confrontation happened but its precise nature remains unclear. The two did not exactly let the story die afterward, either.

Brady and Paul were seen interacting again at the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, keeping their increasingly unusual rivalry in public view.

For now, though, there is no confirmed lawsuit to point to. What is confirmed is that Paul says he intends to sue, while the Brady-Paul rivalry remains caught somewhere between competitive trash talk, sports promotion and WWE-style spectacle.