Penn State and Pennsylvania, in general, are used to great wrestling.
Cael Sanderson has made Penn State a wrestling empire, with the team winning 12 of the last 14 national titles under his leadership.
Pennsylvania has also produced world-class wrestlers who didn’t go to Penn State, such as 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist and WWE/TNA legend Kurt Angle (Clairon) and three-time national champ and 2024 Olympic Bronze Medalist Spencer Lee (Iowa).
Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center has also hosted plenty of WWE events over the years. But the wrestling-crazed state of Pennsylvania hasn’t seen a combination of professional wrestling (meaning WWE/WCW/TNA, etc.) and freestyle wrestling like what Real American Freestyle will provide.
RAF is the brainchild of Chad Bronstein, an entrepreneur who founded the compliance software Fyllo and is its CEO, along with a professional wrestling icon.
Bronstein and Hulk Hogan became business partners, cofounding “Real American Beer” in the summer of 2024.
Bronstein, who wrestled in high school while growing up in Ohio, wanted to create an alternative to Olympic wrestling for wrestlers who had completed their college careers.
Hogan also wanted it and decided to get Eric Bischoff— who grew to fame in the 1990s running World Championship Wrestling, where Hogan became the leader of the “New World Order” stable— involved.
Bronstein was then put in contact with Israel “Izzy” Martinez, the founder of “Izzy Style Wrestling,” who has coached All-Americans such as Real Woods (Iowa), Tony Ramos (Iowa) and Jordan Blanton (Illinois), who had access to the best folkstyle wrestlers in the country.
“I told him (Martinez) about an idea that I had,” Bronstein told Nittany Sports Now in an exclusive interview, “and then we came together, made that idea a lot more advanced, and then came up with RAF.”
“It took us about six months to get off the ground, because we both just wanted to make sure that we had it right.”
A little more than a month before the first RAF show, Hogan died at 71.
The first show, located in Cleveland, Ohio, became a tribute to “The Hulkester,” and Bronstein knows he’d be proud of what he, Bischoff, Martinez and the rest of the RAF team are doing for RAF 2 in Happy Valley.
“He’d be super excited,” Bronstein said. “He loves it. He’d always say, ‘If we do this right, we have the potential to be a billion-dollar-plus company. It’s not just about the money for Hulk; it was about changing the game. Changing the way things have been done in amateur wrestling.”
GETTING THE STARS
For RAF to have the credibility it desires, it needs stars.
There will be plenty in action Saturday night: Penn State legend and five-time national champ Carter Starocci and two-time national champ David Carr (Iowa State), amongst them.
But the headliner of the event is Kyle Dake.
Across folkstyle and freestyle wrestling, there aren’t many who have done more than Dake.
As a folkstyle wrestler, he became the fourth wrestler to win four national championships, accomplishing that feat in March 2013.
In freestyle, he’s won four world championships and two Olympic Bronze Medals.
When Dake first heard about RAF through his camp, he wasn’t sure it was for him.
But he bought into Bronstein’s vision.
“It actually took me a little while to really understand the business,” Dake told NSN, “because I was just getting it second-hand from my manager and little snippets.”
“To be able to take so many of the good things from WCW, WWE, UFC, and apply it to what we do here in freestyle wrestling, I think, will just be really beneficial for the sport, and that was ultimately the reason.”
Another star Real American Freestyle has attracted is Nico Megaludis.
Megaludis, a four-time All-American and 2016 national champ at Penn State, retired from competition in May.
The first Real American Freestyle show was enough to convince him out of retirement, and he wants Nittany Nation to get on board.
“Yeah, I think they should get their butts there,” Megaludis told NSN. “This is going to be great wrestling, but it’s also bringing a different presence that people haven’t seen before. There’s going to be entertainment. There’s going to be a lot of thrilling things that fans are going to leave there shaking their head, like ‘wow, this was some excellent wrestling, but the overall experience, I think they’re going to leave there and be like “holy crap, I want to go to the next one in Chicago.’
IMPROVEMENTS
At the end of the first Real American Freestyle show, Bronstein and Martinez each almost teared up because of what a success it was.
RAF 2 will provide an opportunity to be even better.
One thing Bronstein stresses is for the broadcast team– Angle, Juliana Pena, Bubba Jenkins and Penn State legend Bo Nickal– to explain the sport so that fans who aren’t yet hardcore into wrestling can understand it and build their knowledge.
“Why was that a five-point move?” he said. “Why was that two points? Why was there a one-point pushout, right? All that stuff, we have to get better at, just making sure our audience understands it.”
The event is scheduled to begin at 7 Saturday on Fox Nation.
“Chad had this crazy vision,” Martinez said, “and the move forward from where we were, it was a pretty special moment. But it was hunger. It was like anything else. You work your butt off for it. You put a lot of time in. Once you have a little success, you want more. So we’re excited for this weekend at Penn State.”
“I wouldn’t bet against myself, Izzy, Eric or the RAF team,” Bronstein said. “I think that we’re in this position to, you know, continue… we want to give back to the sport.”
