Competitors include current NCAA athletes, along with past collegiate wrestling and Olympic wrestling stars. The promotion provides an opportunity for wrestlers to profit from their craft, as historically both collegiate and Olympic wrestling do not allow 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.
Terri Francis was the former general counsel for Anheuser-Busch InBev, where she also served as their vice president of investment and innovation until 2022.[1] 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.[2]
Bronstein's son Chase Bronstein attended a Chicago wrestling camp in 2024 that was led by UFC coach Israel "Izzy" Martinez.[7] 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.[4][7]
Hogan and Bischoff said their goal with the promotion was to elevate and develop top-level competitive wrestlers into stars.[10] They planned on doing that by emphasizing the backstories of each athlete like The Voice does for its singers.[11]David Sahadi was hired as the promotion's multimedia producer to accomplish this, having previously worked with Bischoff.[12]
Fox Nation acquired the exclusive broadcast rights to air the promotion's flagship events in July 2025.[17] That same month, RAF co-founder and commissioner Hulk Hogan died.[18]
RAF 01 was held in co-founder Chad Bronstein's hometown of Cleveland, Ohio on August 30, 2025.[19] It featured a video tribute to co-founder Hulk Hogan that was produced by WWE.[20] Hogan's son Nick Hogan appeared at the show, where he began serving as the promotion's acting commissioner.[21]Wyatt Hendrickson won his main event match against Mostafa Elders to become the inaugural RAF Heavyweight Champion.[22]
A multi-year partnership with ALT Sports Data was announced on November 4, 2025 that allows betting on RAF matches through sportsbooks including bet365, DraftKings, and FanDuel.[25]
A weekly two-hour RAF television series will air live beginning in 2026.[29] Competitors on the television series will be wrestling for the chance to perform on an RAF flagship event.[30] Broadcast rights for the series are currently being shopped to various networks.[31]
USA Wrestling is a partner organization, allowing active NCAA wrestlers to compete and receive compensation through NIL sponsorships without it affecting their eligibility.[32][33]
Each RAF event features matches that have three two-minute periods, with a 30-second break between periods.[35]
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.[35] If a match does not end before time expires, the competitor with the highest score at the end of regulation is declared the winner.[35] 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.[33]
The following point system is administered by the league:
Exposure (from Standing): Executing a throw while standing that exposes your opponent's back to the mat is 4 or 5 points.
Exposure (from Ground): 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.[35] 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.[35]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
