At 20 years old, Jess Lockwood became the youngest PBR World Champion when he won the title in 2017, and he joined Silvano Alves as the only riders to win the World Championship the year after being named Rookie of the Year.

Lockwood battled through several significant injuries during the season, returning from broken ribs to go 0-for-4 in the regular-season premier-series finale, but rebounded to go 3-for-3 at the Velocity Tour Finals. Lockwood would then go 3-for-6 at the 2017 World Finals, winning the first three rounds and reclaiming the No. 1 spot in the world following his Round 2-winning 89.75-point ride on Breaking Bad.

Lockwood finished the 2017 season at 28-for-64 (43.75%) with four event victories, including the season-opening PBR Major in New York City. He was able to overcome having the lowest riding percentage for any World Champion by making it count the most when he made the whistle; 19 of his 28 qualified rides resulted in him finishing in the Top 5 of a premier series round.

Lockwood made history again in 2019 as the youngest-ever World Champion became the youngest-ever two-time World Champion in 2019.

It was a ferociously contested world title race all season long, culminating in a slugfest between Lockwood, Jose Vitor Leme and Chase Outlaw at the 2019 PBR World Finals. Ranked No. 2 at the start of the season-culminating event, Lockwood went 5-for-6 to usurp Leme and win his second world title.

Lockwood is only the sixth rider in PBR history to have won multiple World Championships, and he also joined Silvano Alves and J.B. Mauney as the only World Finals event winners with multiple gold buckles.

Despite missing three months due to a broken collarbone, Lockwood went a career-high 44-for-65 (67.69%) with five event wins in 18 premier series events and a PBR-record four 15/15 Bucking Battle victories. He also set a PBR single-season record for earnings with $1,873,731.80 at all levels of competition, and his 14 90-point rides was the fourth-most all time.