Seth Rollins faced Logan Paul at WrestleMania 39.
Photo credit: WWE.com
Seth Rollins defeated Logan Paul with a stomp in a highly entertaining showdown at WrestleMania 39.
Logan Paul descended from the rafters of SoFi Stadium into a loud enclave of boos, accompanied by a Prime Hydration mascot, who turned out to be KSI, while Seth Rollins was admitted with a theater director directing the crowd of over 66,000. In a fantastic location, Logan Paul accidentally hit a frog splash on the Prime Mascot through the table.
At WrestleMania 39 Weekend, Andy Kaufman was inducted into the Celebrity Wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. Suffice it to say that Logan has not only continued, but surpassed, Paul Kaufman’s legacy as a prominent wrestler.
Much like iconoclastic martial artists like Floyd Mayweather, Chael Sonnen, Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey and even Muhammad Ali, Paul successfully borrowed the pro wrestling formula to make himself a viable fighter in the boxing world. So it’s no surprise that Paul has had such a smooth transition to WWE. However, the fact that Paul is such a great wrestler was a revelation.
When it comes to the prototypical celebrity wrestler, Paul is a Five Tool player. In fact, Paul represents an evolution wrestling celebrity as he is also a super athlete capable of stunts no celebrity has dared attempt. Paul’s legendary Royal Rumble double springboard with ricochet is already a staple of WWE history. Few other prominent wrestlers in history can match Paul’s athletic prowess, and more importantly, Paul is a polarizing mainstream figure that WWE fans love to hate.
Far from being an action-driven celebrity protected in the ring, Paul’s fights are often better than his promos and antics, and that sets a high bar.
Paul is now 2-2 as a celebrity wrestler. WWE would be wise to build on Paul’s part-time career with more wins and eventually a championship with WWE. Whenever the time is right, a heel world championship run would bring in the kind of mainstream press that WWE drools over.
As for Seth Rollins, Rollins remains one of the most popular babyfaces in WWE, having brought himself back from the dead after an ill-fated feud with “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt. Rollins’ theme music has propelled him out of darkness into light to the top of the WWE roster, though he may find himself outside as a World Title contender if Cody Rhodes successfully wraps up the story. Not only has Rollins been a fellow babyface since Rhodes’ return, Rollins has lost to Rhodes three times in a row.
It’s hard to imagine WWE Rollins booking anywhere near Rhodes at the start of Cody’s title reign as this would likely be their fourth straight loss to the American Nightmare.
Luckily, with his undisputed status as a current and future star, Rollins doesn’t need a world championship. Until his time in the World Title Picture comes around again, Rollins will continue to serve as a quality utility player in WWE. One that would continue to float in the main event picture after defeating Logan Paul at WrestleMania.
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I’ve been a pro wrestling columnist and video blogger for a leading national sports website since 2010 and formerly at Bleacher Report, where I was a WWE columnist and host of the nearly 100 episode digital series WWE WTF. In 2012, I was in the Bleacher Report documentary Why We Watch, which was about Kurt Angle’s career. I graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a major in Business Administration with a major in Accounting and a minor in Sports Management.
In addition to appearances on ` and ESPN Radio, I have been featured on NPR several times. My pro wrestling expertise includes live broadcasting of countless WWE and independent wrestling events including six WrestleManias.
I created the Pro Wrestling Bits YouTube channel. Subscribe at bit.ly/deezbits
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