Tetz Having Fun as He Notches First Ride at a PBR World Finals

FORT WORTH, Texas – In the locker room of Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Nick Tetz is focused on two things.

The first, of course, is riding his bulls at the 2023 PBR World Finals. The second is checking the PBR Canada daysheet to see how his buddies are doing at the Rose City Invitational in Camrose, Alberta.

Tetz, a Calgary native and reigning PBR Canada Champion, is determined to support his friends north of the border even as he makes his World Finals debut.

“We have an event actually going on tonight, so I’ll be checking the daysheet and seeing how all my buddies are doing back home and shooting them the ‘good job’ text or ‘tough luck’ texts that they’ve been shooting me since I’ve been down here,” Tetz said during Round 2 on Saturday night.

Tetz is particularly invested in sending those texts since he’s gotten a few of the congratulatory variety. In Round 2 in Fort Worth, Tetz rode Bandito Bug for 89 points. Not only was it good for second place in the round, but it also has him sitting third in the aggregate heading into Round 3 (2:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network).

It was also his first career ride at a PBR World Finals.

“It felt pretty chaotic, to be completely honest,” Tetz said of his ride. “He kind of had my feet bouncing the whole time. (Colten) Fritzlan told me he’d been on him a couple times before, and he said, ‘Don’t go forward. Just keep setting your hips,’ and it just worked out.”

While the ride may have been chaotic, getting his first ride under his belt was a relief.

“It felt good,” Tetz said. “I expected myself to stay on yesterday, but it’s bull riding. You’re at the highest level right now, so you’re not going to ride them all. But I’m just really happy to get the first one down, and smooth sailing from here, I hope.”

Despite it being Tetz’s first time on bull riding’s biggest stage, he felt surprisingly at home thanks to PBR Canada’s top-notch production.

“Our events feel very similar to this, just not as big of a venue and not quite on the same stage,” Tetz said. “But as far as how the bull riding feels and how it’s run and everything like that, and the intros and all that, I feel well-prepared just from those.”

However, the weight of the moment hasn’t been lost on him. At the rookie breakfast on Friday morning, Cody Lambert and Justin McBride spoke to them about the size and scope of the event, and Tetz said it really sunk in.

“It kind of hits you and you’re like, ‘Oh, wow. I did something pretty great that a lot of people can only dream of,’” Tetz said. “And to be able to be here with all these people, guys I’ve looked up to and guys that I’ve rode with at our events and down here a couple times – it’s just awesome to be here.”

Tetz punched his ticket to the World Finals thanks to his third-place finish at the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals, where he was the highest-ranking international bull rider.

In 10 premier series events this season, including two outs at the World Finals, Tetz is 5-for-24 (20%).

“It’s awesome,” Tetz said of being on the elite tour. “I can’t say enough good things about it, honestly. Not to throw shade at anyone back home, but a lot of those guys, they all have jobs that they go back to during the week, and they work during the winter. I think, for the most part, I’m maybe the only guy – there might be a couple other ones that I don’t quite know, but as far as I know, I’m the only one that I know that truly just does this for a living. So to be down here with a bunch of guys that this is all they do for a living too, it makes it easier to be around guys like that because we share that in common, and we have to ride in order to feed ourselves and our families and have all the things that we want in life.”

After the World Finals, Tetz will head back home to Canada for a few big events coming up in the next few weeks and months. He hopes to defend his PBR Canada title in November and is currently No. 3 in the Canadian standings, 21 points behind No. 1 Coy Robbins.

But before he heads back north, Tetz has a few things left on the agenda in Fort Worth. 

“Just soak everything up and just have fun,” Tetz said. “I feel like I’m capable of winning the event, but there’s things that have to go right, and you’ve got to get by some tough bulls here. So I’ll take it one bull at a time and just keep having fun and letting it all hang out.”