Wright

By Patrick Everson

Everybody put on your Macaulay Culkin shocked face, because I’ve got some news that will blow your mind:

Stetson Wright is the greatest rodeo cowboy on the planet. Again.

OK, that probably doesn’t blow your mind. By now, this is the expectation. Wright has been to four Wrangler National Finals Rodeos in his young career, and each time, he’s exited with the gold buckle as the season-long all-around world champion.

This year was no different. Wright had his fourth straight all-around crown wrapped up by the time Wednesday’s seventh go-round wrapped up, such was the stack of money he’d hauled in all season long. When the dust settled on Saturday’s 10^th and final go-round of the Wrangler NFR, the saddle bronc and bull rider from Milford, Utah, had a whopping total of $758,828.

“It rates up there with all of them,” a beaming Wright said Saturday night. “These gold buckles wake me up every day and keep me going.”

And Wright once again pulled a double by also winning the bull riding world championship. That marks three straight years that he’s won two gold buckles. In 2020, he won the all-around and bull riding titles; and in 2021, he took the all-around and did right by his family’s legacy in getting his first saddle bronc world championship.

Wright finished the year with an eye-popping $592,144 in bull riding earnings. That included the first-place NFR average check of $74,150, as he totaled 684.5 points on eight head.

Wright finished fourth in the world saddle bronc standings at $335,797.

Pretty much half of Wright’s overall season winnings – $380,489 – came over the 10 days of the NFR. He collected $237,812 in bull riding and $142,677 in saddle broncs.

“I’m competing against the best group of guys that maybe the PRCA has ever seen,” Wright said. “To walk out of here with two gold buckles is pretty special.

That said, Wright admitted saddle broncs didn’t go as planned, and he’s still full-bore on winning three world championships in one season.

“I’m a little disappointed in my performance in the bronc riding,” Wright said. “But this is exactly what I need. Bronc riding humbled me. I will be back next year, and I will walk out of this Thomas & Mack Center with three gold buckles.”