Logan Paul is officially a champion in WWE.
The YouTube star and boxer defeated WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio for the United States championship at Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday (AEDT), the NY Post reports.
By doing so, the 28-year-old Paul, who debuted in WWE in April 2021, can finally call himself a pro wrestling champ.
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Paul’s victory, however, came with the help of a pair of brass knuckles — which weren’t legal in this match.
A member of his “entourage” handed them to Paul in the ring, but Mysterio was able to thwart his first attempt to use them.
When Paul’s friend tried to retrieve them, he was initially stopped by Santos Escobar, Mysterio’s partner in the Latino World Order.
But while in pursuit of Paul’s helper, Escobar left the brass knuckles in the ring.
Paul was able to grab them while being set up for the 619 and smashed Mysterio with a right hand as looked to complete his finisher with a springboard move.
Paul did appear to save Mysterio from potentially severe injury, catching him in mid-air on a springboard move before it looked like the legend’s head might land awkwardly on the mat.
Paul set up the storyline for this match with Mysterio by calling him out after his boxing victory over Bellator MMA fighter Dillon Danis on October 14 in a fight that failed to live up to the pre-bout hype.
After being called out by Paul, Mysterio had vowed to go into his “bag of tricks” to overcome the challenge laid out to him, but it wasn’t enough.
Putting the United States championship on Paul comes at the perfect time for WWE.
He is fresh off a boxing win, WrestleMania is just six months away, and he has no other fight commitments that could keep him off WWE television for the foreseeable future.
He was unsuccessful in one previous attempt to win wrestling gold, taking a loss to Undisputed WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns at last year’s Crown Jewel show.
Mysterio and Paul were last in the ring against each other at WrestleMania 38 last year. Paul, in his debut match, teamed up with The Miz against Mysterio and his son Dominik.
Paul’s brother Jake Paul celebrated the big win as he watched on a phone leaning against bananas while eating eggs and pancakes.
A title win feels long overdue for Logan Paul, who has done nothing but impress with his work in a WWE ring and he continues to get more and more comfortable on the mic.
Logan Paul, who boasts 26.3 million YouTube subscribers and 27 million followers on Instagram, will bring plenty of eyeballs to the United States championship.
This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.
