World Champion Sidelined For Balance of 2024 Season and Faces No WNFR

Unfortunately in the sport of professional rodeo, injury looms just around the corner at all times

Tyler Waguespack competes in steer wrestling / Charles Bryce/San Angelo Standard-Times

Professional rodeo certainly has professional athletes everywhere you look. There is a major difference in the professional athletes of rodeo versus other sports you might compare them to. They pay their own way. They are not paid to play, they are paid to win. There is a big difference.

When a professional rodeo athlete comes up short in the arena, it actually costs them money. When they are injured, they lose their way to make a living. No one pays them to be on "injured reserve." When the year is over and they can't make money, athletes have to figure out other ways to take care of their families.

One of our very elite competitors is having to face his year being over for 2024. World Champion Tyler Waguespack announced on social media that he suffered an injury at the Sisters Rodeo in Sisters, Oregon. A torn bicep will keep him watching from the sidelines for the remainder of the 2024 season.

It has been reported that a bicep tear and recovery could take 12 weeks and if that is the case, Waguespack will be out until around the middle of September. With the 2024 season ending September 30, that puts a damper on the Gonzales, Louis. cowboy's run for another Wrangler National Finals Rodeo appearance.

Currently the 2023 World Champion is ranked number 15 in the steer wrestling standings with approximately $32,680. The 5-time World Champion cowboy knows that this won't earn him another berth in Las Vegas. So, he will be faced with helping friends, coaching and concerning himself with rehabilitating his bicep.

The fire that burns within rodeo cowboys will show through Waguespack's rehab and he will be working as hard as he can to be back doing what he loves to do - steer wrestling and rodeo. We will all be looking forward to the cajun being back.

His injury and the effect of it highlights the fact that rodeo cowboys deserve more. It certainly shows how much the people of this industry love what they do as they risk themselves and their livelihoods every time they step foot in the arena.