Philadelphia, Pa. — Naturals inside the pro wrestling ring are far few and far between. Normally, it takes years to perfect the craft. You can count on one hand in terms of how many people it just clicked for instantaneously. In the past, fans have often only brought up Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle. You can add Logan Paul to the list as he defends the United States Championship against Kevin Owens and Randy Orton tonight at Night 2 of WrestleMania 40 from Lincoln Financial Field.
Paul had his first WWE match two years ago at WrestleMania 38 when he teamed with The Miz to defeat Rey and Dominik Mysterio, and the social media influencer and part-time boxer shined in the contest. Since then, he’s signed a multi-year deal with the pro wrestling giant and has stood out in performances against current WWE Undisputed Universal Champion Roman Reigns and World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, who Paul faced at last year’s WrestleMania 39. It’s something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by one of the foes he’s about to face.
“There’s a lot that can be said about him and stuff he’s done,” Owens told Wrestling Junkie. “As far as wrestling goes, you can’t deny how much he cares, how much of himself he gives, and he really respects what we do. Right off the get-go, that makes it a lot easier for us to be accepting of him being in our locker room and being on our shows. But he is an insufferable human being, don’t get me wrong. There’s something very special about being able to beat the crap out of him.
“He grew up as a YouTuber or a Viner or social media. You know, social media makes people … worse. I’m done with that stuff. As great as it can be, it’s so toxic to me. This guy [Paul] grew up making a living on it, so it’s a product of his environment.”
The 39-year-old Owens has been on a great run at the last three editions of WrestleMania. At WrestleMania 38, he headlined Night 1 against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who was returning for his first match in 19 years. That was followed up last year at WrestleMania 39 by once again main eventing Night 1, when he teamed with fellow Canadian and best friend Sami Zayn to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles from The Usos.
While not on the top of the marquee, Owens is in a prominent position with a legend in Orton and one of the biggest mainstream names in the world in Paul. Having these moments at pro wrestling’s biggest annual event isn’t lost on the former WWE Universal champion.
“I’m fortunate to be around so many people that I looked up to for so long and getting to work with them,” Owens admitted. “Steve was actually the epitome of that for me, obviously. If I can get Shawn Michaels to wrestle me at WrestleMania … I bother him every year and he’s staunchly against it. But I’ll keep bothering him. It’s very unlikely.
“But I’ve been very lucky. I would have never thought I’d get to wrestle Stone Cold. let alone at WrestleMania, so maybe this Shawn Michaels [match] isn’t so out of the realm of possibility.”
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