January 9, 2025
Landry's Downtown Aquarium's Tiger Apollo Places His Pick for Who Will Win This Weekend's Texas Cup Rivalry Bull Riding Game in Houston on Jan. 17 at Toyota Center
For the second consecutive season, PBR’s (Professional Bull Riders) premier Unleash The Beast will buck into Houston, Texas, taking over Toyota Center with the Michelob UTLTRA PBR Houston on Jan. 17-18. The event will mark the eighth time the sport’s top tour has taken over Houston, and second that the world’s best bull riders and bovine athletes have competed inside the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets.
However, this season’s event will be met with new fanfare!
On Friday night, two championship teams in PBR’s new bull riding league – the 2023 World Champion Texas Rattlers and reigning 2024 World Champion Austin Gamblers–will play a pre-season rivalry game in Houston. The Rattlers and Gamblers, who have formed one of the top rivalries in the four-year-old bull riding league, will compete head-to-head inside the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets in the first iteration of the Texas Cup during the 2025 season. The game within a weekend of individual competition is part of the newly launched Monster Energy Team Challenge, presented by Camping World, an extension of the PBR Teams league which will showcase one rivalry game during select nights of Unleash The Beast events for 15 consecutive weeks ahead of the 2025 PBR Teams season.
And while experts in the Western community are all making their picks, we turned to a local for his take. And that was none other than Apollo, a 4-year-old Bengal tiger who calls Landry’s Downtown Aquarium home. An apt judge for this showdown, Apollo is an active, curious and fun-filled tiger, who can now add bull riding expert to his list of accolades.
Confidently making his pick, Apollo selected the Texas Rattlers to upset the Austin Gamblers with a swift swipe of his paw! For a full video of the pick, courtesy PBR, click here.
As PBR prepares to return to Houston, competing riders, including those from the Texas Rattlers and Austin Gamblers squads, stock contractors and operational staff are available for interviews, either by phone or video conference, as soon today, or in the greater Houston area starting Tuesday, January 14.