Real American Freestyle

Real American Freestyle is an American freestyle wrestling promotion owned by Real American Wrestling, Inc. and headquartered in Tampa, Florida. It was founded in 2025 by Chad Bronstein, Terri Francis, and Hulk Hogan.
Competitors include current and former high school wrestlers, collegiate wrestlers, Olympic wrestlers, and mixed martial artists. The promotion provides an opportunity for wrestlers to compete and profit from the sport, as amateur wrestling historically does not permit compensation. A partnership with USA Wrestling allows current NCAA wrestlers to compete and receive compensation through NIL sponsorships.
The promotion debuted with its inaugural event, RAF 01, on August 30, 2025. Fox Nation is the official broadcast home of the promotion's flagship events. A weekly RAF television series will begin airing live in 2026.

History

2024: Planning and development

Terri Francis was general counsel for Anheuser-Busch InBev, where she also served as their vice president of investment and innovation until 2022. Chad Bronstein was president of Carma HoldCo until 2023, where he helped the company partner with Ric Flair to launch his Wooooo! Energy line of energy drinks.
Bronstein and Francis partnered with Hulk Hogan to launch Real American Beer on June 13, 2024, a light beer manufactured by City Brewing Company that carried Hogan's likeness. The beer's name was a nod to "Real American", Hogan's longtime WWE theme song. WWE is a minority owner of Real American Beer.
Bronstein's son Chase Bronstein attended a Chicago wrestling camp in 2024 that was led by UFC coach Israel "Izzy" Martinez. Bronstein and Hogan were impressed by Chase's progress after the camp, and they began to develop plans with Martinez for a new sport wrestling venture.

2025: Promotion's launch

and Eric Bischoff announced the formation of Real American Freestyle on April 30, 2025. The freestyle wrestling promotion is backed financially by Left Lane Capital and the venture capital fund Cassius, with $3.5 million raised at launch. Chad Bronstein serves as chief executive officer, Bischoff as chief media officer, and Israel "Izzy" Martinez as chief operating officer.
Hogan and Bischoff said their goal with the promotion was to elevate and develop top-level competitive wrestlers into stars. They planned on doing that by emphasizing the backstories of each athlete like The Voice does for its singers. David Sahadi was hired as the promotion's multimedia producer to accomplish this, having previously worked with Bischoff.
MOGL founder Brandon Wimbush was hired as the promotion's chief of staff, wrestler Lance Palmer was hired as the head of talent development, and MatScouts founder Willie Saylor was hired as the vice president of talent development on May 30, 2025.
Wyatt Hendrickson was signed to the promotion's roster on June 4, 2025. Hulk Hogan cited mainstream coverage of Hendrickson's upset of Gable Steveson in the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships as a testament to the sport's popularity. Steveson has a clothing line with Takedown Sportswear, the official manufacturer of RAF apparel.
Fox Nation acquired the exclusive broadcast rights to air the promotion's flagship events on July 21, 2025. RAF co-founder and commissioner Hulk Hogan died later that same week on July 24, 2025.
File:The White House - 54411967984.jpg|thumb|right|RAF signee Wyatt Hendrickson being congratulated by American president Donald Trump for his victory at the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships
RAF 01 was held in co-founder Chad Bronstein's hometown of Cleveland, Ohio on August 30, 2025. It featured a video tribute to co-founder Hulk Hogan that was produced by WWE. Hogan's son Nick Hogan appeared at the show, where he began serving as the promotion's acting commissioner. Wyatt Hendrickson won his main event match against Mostafa Elders to become the inaugural RAF Heavyweight Champion.
RAF 02 was held in State College, Pennsylvania on October 25, 2025. Kyle Dake defeated Boris Makoev in the main event to retain his RAF Cruiserweight Championship.
A multi-year partnership with ALT Sports Data was announced on November 4, 2025 that allows betting on RAF matches through major sportsbooks.
RAF 03 took place in Chicago, Illinois on November 29, 2025. Michael Chandler defeated Chad Mendes in the main event.
RAF 04 took place in Fishers, Indiana on December 20, 2025. Wyatt Hendrickson defeated Mason Parris in the main event to retain his RAF Heavyweight Championship.

2026: Weekly television series

A weekly two-hour RAF television series will air live beginning in 2026. Competitors on the television series will be wrestling for the chance to perform on an RAF flagship event. Broadcast rights for the series are currently being shopped to various networks.
RAF 05 took place in Sunrise, Florida on January 10, 2026. Colby Covington defeated Luke Rockhold in the main event.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Abdulrashid Sadulaev signed an exclusive contract with RAF on January 15, 2026. Sadulaev will receive a reported salary of $100,000 per match, with additional payments of $100,000 for each bout he wins.
Fox Nation extended their exclusive broadcast rights agreement for airing RAF’s flagship events on January 22, 2026.
RAF: Wrestling’s Greatest Takedowns aired January 29, 2026 on Fox Nation. The special was hosted by Colby Covington, and featured highlights from the promotion’s first five events.
RAF 06 will take place in Tempe, Arizona on February 28, 2026. Henry Cejudo will face Urijah Faber in the main event.

Weight divisions and current champions

Men

Women

Wrestler salaries and contracts

In contrast to amateur wrestling which prohibits compensation, RAF allows those who excelled in high school wrestling, collegiate wrestling, and Olympic wrestling to profit from the sport. Salaries are not publicly disclosed, with some contracts providing wrestlers both “show” money to compete, and additional “win” money if they are victorious.
USA Wrestling is a partner organization, allowing active NCAA wrestlers to compete in RAF and receive compensation through NIL sponsorships without it affecting their eligibility.
Ultimate Fighting Championship has a working relationship with RAF that allows their contracted mixed martial artists to wrestle for the promotion.

Rules

RAF utilizes modified United World Wrestling and USA Wrestling rules for freestyle wrestling.
Each RAF event features matches that have three two-minute periods, with a 30-second break between periods.
Matches can end during regulation if a pinfall occurs, or if a technical fall is awarded when one competitor gains a 10-point lead over their opponent. If a match does not end before time expires, the competitor with the highest score at the end of regulation is declared the winner. There is no overtime, and in the event of a tie score at the end of regulation, the competitor who last scored points is declared the victor.
The following point system is administered by the league:

Exposure : Executing a throw while standing that exposes your opponent's back to the mat is 4 or 5 points.
Exposure : Turning your opponent onto their back is 2 points.
Takedown: Bringing your opponent to the mat and controlling them is 2 points.
Reversal: Maneuvering from bottom to top position is 1 point.
Stepout: Forcing your opponent completely out of bounds is 1 point.
Shot Clock: Failure of a competitor to score in 30 seconds after the official has warned them for being too passive results in 1 point awarded to their opponent.
Caution: Stoppages caused by a competitor's fleeing, unsportsmanlike conduct, or abuse of injury timeouts results in 1 point awarded to their opponent.

Competitors can challenge an official's call using video review. If a call is upheld, that competitor loses the ability to challenge again for the rest of the match, and their opponent is awarded 1 point.

RAF events

Scheduled events

Past events

#	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
005	RAF 05: Covington vs. Rockhold		Amerant Bank Arena	Sunrise, Florida, U.S.
004	RAF 04: Hendrickson vs. Parris		Fishers Event Center	Fishers, Indiana, U.S.
003	RAF 03: Mendes vs. Chandler		Wintrust Arena	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
002	RAF 02: Dake vs. Makoev		Bryce Jordan Center	State College, Pennsylvania, U.S.
001	RAF 01: Hendrickson vs. Elders		Wolstein Center	Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.