PBR Milwaukee: The 2026 PBR Unleash The Beast season rolls into cheese country this weekend for the fifth stop of the season inside Fiserv Forum. After a massive three-day showcase inside Madison Square Garden, riders will now test their grit in Milwaukee for a pivotal two-day showdown as the tour enters midseason form.
Action begins Friday, Jan. 16, at 7:00 p.m. CT and continues Saturday, Jan. 17, at 7:00 p.m. CT with the championship round to follow. All rounds will stream live on Paramount+, with a special one-hour Monster Energy Team Challenge broadcast airing Sunday, Jan. 18, at 2:00 p.m. ET on CBS.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
Milwaukee is the first event following the initial rider cut of the 2026 season. After four weeks of competition, the bottom five athletes in the Unleash The Beast standings were removed from the elite tour, with top Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour riders promoted in their place.
With fresh names in the mix and rising stakes for World Championship hopefuls, Stop No. 5 is a chance for new momentum — or survival.
SURVIVING THE CUT
The riders competing in Milwaukee include several new call-ups who earned their opportunity through the Velocity Global standings, including Kase Hitt, Manoelito de Souza Junior, Wyatt Rogers and Romario Leite. One additional rider declined to move up, leaving four new contenders hungry to prove themselves.
Only one rider faced a cut this week due to the guaranteed four-event eligibility that applied to most of the roster. Milwaukee will be the proving ground for all riders battling to stay inside the Top 35 ahead of the second cut.
REMATCH RECAP
Round 1 in Milwaukee brings a handful of familiar pairings back to center stage as riders look to rewrite their past outcomes inside Fiserv Forum. Cort McFadden will rematch Country Club for the first time since March 2025 in Albuquerque, where the bull got the best of him in 4.72 seconds. Daniel Keeping draws Old Testament after their August 2025 meeting ended in a 1.38-second buckoff that led to a re-ride opportunity—meaning this weekend marks their first official scoring attempt. And in a clash of veteran talent, Joao Ricardo Vieira looks to remain perfect against Kodiac, having previously posted 84.5 points on the bull during a high-stakes playoff matchup at the 2023 Teams Championship.
From critical post-cut shakeups to marquee rematches and Monster Energy Team Challenge showdowns, two nights inside Fiserv Forum promise no shortage of drama as Milwaukee becomes the latest battleground in the race for the 2026 gold buckle. All the action streams live on Paramount+, with a special one-hour Monster Energy Team Challenge broadcast airing Sunday at 2:00 p.m. ET on CBS.
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media