He’s calling it a “BeardOff,’’ but even A’s right fielder Josh Reddick admits it’s a beard-on.

Reddick, a huge fan of WWE wrestling, has taken the challenge from the WWE’s Daniel Bryan to spend the rest of this year growing the fullest and most luxuriant beard possible.

The winner will be determined by a vote of online fans, and “the loser has to shave it all off,’’ Reddick said Tuesday.

“I’m already hearing trash talk from his fans,” Reddick said of the challenge, which he accepted Tuesday morning. “I know a bunch of the WWE guys, but I’ve never met him.”

Reddick reported to FanFest in Oakland in January with a full beard that he’d started growing in November. Bryan reportedly has been growing his beard for about 12 months.

“He has a bit of a head start,” Reddick acknowledged. “Here’s hoping I’m a fast grower.”

Bryan issued the challenge Tuesday via twitter, saying “Of course, I don’t think an A’s player like @JoshReddick16 has the guts to have a #BeardOff with The Dazzler.”

It didn’t take long for Reddick to respond, also via Twitter, with “Bring it. YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!”

IOC leaders dropped wrestling from the Olympic program on Tuesday, a surprise decision that removes one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games.

The IOC executive board decided to retain modern pentathlon — the event considered most at risk — and remove wrestling instead from its list of 25 “core sports.”

The IOC board acted after reviewing the 26 sports on the current Olympic program. Eliminating one sport allows the International Olympic Committee to add a new sport to the program later this year.
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Wrestling will now join seven other sports in applying for inclusion in 2020. The others are a combined bid from baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. They will be vying for a single opening in 2020.