Steer wrestling world champion handles his cow during another solid run at the 2025 National Finals Rodeo. Allen rode Banker, the 2025 Bulldogging Horse of the Year owned by Justin Shaffer, then dominated the 10 days of competition in Las Vegas.
(PRCA PHOTO BY LARA ST JACQUES)

 

Cinch bulldogger handles the biggest rodeo test for championship

The things in Tucker Allen’s life aren’t really any different than they were a couple weeks ago.

He’s trying to figure out a replacement for the pickup truck that was stolen during the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. He’s been in contact with law enforcement officials; they say they have a suspect, but that’s about it.

The main discrepancy in life would be in the title he now holds. Sure, he’s still a cowboy and a hell of a bulldogger, but he’s added the banner of world champion steer wrestler to his moniker. It’ll never go away, but neither will the little things that need to be dealt with at his home in Ventura, California.

“I understand what I’ve done, and even Justin (Shaffer) asked me if I feel any different,” Tucker said of his traveling partner, friend and hazer. “I was like, ‘Honestly, no. I’m back home and have got to do real-life stuff.’

“I’ve got to fix water lines and still pay bills, and I have horses to ride. The day-to-day doesn’t feel any different, but the sense of accomplishment is for sure there. Right after I got that average saddle, that’s when it all set it.”

Cowboys dream of being a world champion in their given disciplines. Second on that list is to win the NFR’s average title for having the best 10 days out of all 15 contestants in each event. Allen did that in one fell swoop the first week and a half in December.

“That average title sealed the deal,” he said. “Then when I saw Luke (Branquinho) and Dakota (Eldridge) and Bridger (Anderson) all in the hallway, that’s when it really hit me. After I’d made my run, Rowdy (Parrott) and Ty (Erickson), all them guys gave me hugs.

“I’m normally not emotional at all, but it got a little emotional there.”

Allen had earned the sentimental feelings. He’d accomplished something many mean dream about but few achieve. There were 14 other bulldoggers in the mix, but the Cinch cowboy from a Southern California beachside community outlasted them all.

He placed in six go-rounds, including three in which he had the fastest run of the night. He cleared $248,000 over 10 December nights in the Nevada desert; most of that came in the rounds, but there was also a $94,000 bonus paid out on Dec. 13, the final night, for having the best aggregate score. He finished with a cumulative time of 46.4 seconds and won the average by 10.4 seconds.

That was a dominant stretch of competition for the 5-foot-10, 180-pound cowboy, who continually overcomes a size disadvantage in comparison to other steer wrestlers to grapple a 600-pound steer to the ground. Will Lummus, for example, stands 6-2 and checks in at 250 pounds. Erickson is 6-5, 240.

But just as he learned from California world champions Branquinho and John W. Jones, it takes more than brawn to tip over a farm animal. Proper technique and riding a good horse are critical no matter how big the bulldogger is.

“Hopefully the title of world champion will make those announcers and all the other people stop talking about how small I am,” Allen said with a slight grin. “I always like to think I’m last year’s world champion; I’m not this year’s world champion. They’ve still got rodeos to win money at, and I’ve got green horses that I could probably make.”

That goes into the horsemanship that’s so valuable. He has some horses that aren’t quite savvy to rodeo and the needs that come with competing at an elite level, so he will “make the green” ones better by taking them through the paces and exposing them to what it takes to be great.

“I’m not taking anything for granted,” Allen said. “I know that for whoever I haze for, I want to be better at it. I’ve still got work to do.”

For now, though, he’ll enjoy the moments he’s had on Banker, the 2025 AQHA/PRCA Steer Wrestling Horse of the Year owned by his friend and traveling partner, Justin Shaffer of Hallsville, Texas. There were five cowboys in the travel group, which also included Holden Myers, Jace Melvin and Jesse Brown, the latter of whom joined Shaffer and Allen at the NFR.

In fact, those three cowboys that rode Banker earned more than $529,000 in Las Vegas.

“He for sure got a big hug from me,” Allen said of the athletic bay gelding. “Even when I went to Justin’s (after the NFR) to practice, Banker was out in the pasture, and I had to stop and take a look at him. I was like, ‘God, you’re cool. You let me accomplish my dreams.’

“We took pictures of him the next morning, and I put the world champion saddle on him because, to me, he’s the champ. Without that horse, I don’t win that gold buckle, so that horse is pretty impressive.”

So is Allen, who had to clear many hurdles en route to rodeo’s gold. First, he had to earn a spot in the Las Vegas field, which features only the elite at the end of the regular season. He then had to battle through 10 grueling go-rounds at the sport’s premier event. He was in contention for the world title midway through the NFR, and it was his to lose after the ninth night.

“They’re not lying when they say it’s a marathon,” Allen said. “Even if you have one round that just goes so-so, you just have to keep pushing. There were runs that I could have been better, but at the same time, almost as soon as you get done, you have to forget about it, good or bad, and then start back at zero and go at the next round.

“Even after those round wins, I would try to come back more aggressive and try to be on the barrier that much more. After winning the eighth round, I actually picked up my head and thought, ‘Whoa, this is doable now.’ I’m sure it looked that way before that, but I didn’t give myself the satisfaction. I just stayed hooked, but I realized I had a legitimate chance to do this.”

With the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle on the line, Allen’s second-to-last night in Sin City was a bit restless. There was a job to do, but the valve on the pressure tank had been turned to wide open.

“If you say you don’t feel anything in those situations, you’ve got to be lying,” he said. “What was cool was that (five-time world champion) Tyler Waguespack came up to me and Justin before the grand entry. It was busy, and he asked me, ‘Are you nervous?’ I said, ‘It’s not like a nervous feeling, but I’d be lying if I told you I’m not feeling something.’

“He said, ‘Just wait until you throw your steer down. Congrats. I’m proud of you.’ He congratulated me before I threw my steer, so that was really cool.”

Tucker Allen is pretty cool, too, and he’s got a world title to prove it.