The Fox News host took a suplex from Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades on live TV and called it the coolest part of her day.
Most television segments end with a handshake or a wave. Abby Hornacek’s ended with her getting thrown over an Olympian’s shoulder and slammed into a mat on live television this morning.
The Fox News host appeared alongside American wrestler Kennedy Blades during a segment on Fox and Friends to promote the Real American Freestyle wrestling event airing on Fox Nation that evening in Tampa, Florida. What started as a standard promotional interview ended with Hornacek on her back on the floor, having just received Blades’ signature suplex move in front of a national audience.
Who Kennedy Blades is
Blades is not someone you want throwing you around. The Real American Freestyle Middleweight Champion won a silver medal in women’s freestyle wrestling in the 76 kg division at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She followed that up with a bronze medal in the 68 kg category at the 2025 World Championships. On Saturday night, she was set to compete against Milana Dudieva at the Tampa event.
The suplex she demonstrated on Hornacek is the kind of technique she has used on some of the best wrestlers in the world. It involves lifting an opponent off the ground and flipping them over the shoulder in one motion, driving them into the mat. With a trained wrestler performing it, there is not much the person on the receiving end can do about the landing.
Got suplexed by an Olympian today so that was cool @kennedyblades pic.twitter.com/lWxqaemKen
— Abby Hornacek (@abbyhornacek) March 28, 2026
How Hornacek handled it
By her own admission, Hornacek was nervous going in. That part is understandable. Being lifted and thrown by a world-class athlete is not something most journalists put on their list of professional experiences. Still, she agreed to it, stood on the mat, and let it happen.
Blades executed the move cleanly. Hornacek landed on the mat, bounced back to her feet, gave Blades a high five and grinned through the whole thing. On social media afterward, she summed up the morning with the kind of brevity that fit the moment perfectly. Getting suplexed by an Olympian, she said, was pretty cool.
Why Hornacek was probably a better candidate than most
Hornacek’s comfort in that situation is not entirely surprising given her background. She is the daughter of former NBA All-Star Jeff Hornacek, who played for the Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz before becoming the Suns’ head coach in 2013. Athletics have been a constant in her life.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California and earned departmental honors from the USC Annenberg School of Journalism. She was also a member of the USC sand volleyball team during her time there, which means she has spent time in physically competitive environments.
Before joining Fox News, Hornacek worked as a contributor at ESPN and a sideline reporter for Fox Sports. That combination of sports journalism experience and genuine athleticism in her background likely made Blades’ suplex feel less terrifying than it would to most.
What the segment was really promoting
The stunt was built around Real American Freestyle wrestling, a competition format that has been building an audience on Fox Nation. The Tampa event Saturday night was one of its marquee matchups of the year, with Blades defending her middleweight status against a credible opponent in Dudieva.
The segment accomplished exactly what it was designed to do. A clip of a Fox News host getting legitimately thrown by an Olympic wrestler this morning show travels fast. By this afternoon, it already had.