Analysis: Is Logan Paul Worthy Of A WWE Undisputed Universal Championship Match?

Logan Paul has been a relatively polarizing figure since he first showed up on WWE programming years ago. Initially, he was just there in small segments. WWE’s idea was to utilize Paul’s social media presence to help them. Eventually, WWE realized that Paul was in great shape and still quite young. He might be able to wrestle, should he want to do so. Paul clearly did which led to a WrestleMania tag team match alongside The Miz.

Logan was hurting a bit afterward but he loved it, leading to more matches. For a while, Paul was only used off and on. Yet he was clearly impressive and earned the respect of the WWE Universe. He would eventually get a WWE Universal Championship match with Roman Reigns in Saudi Arabia in just his third match. While he did not win, he was yet again impressive.

There has not been one match Paul has taken part in where he was not fun to watch. WWE managed to sign him to a deal where he would be used more often, which is why they were willing to give him the WWE United States Championship. The problem is that Paul has rarely defended the thing. He won the title in November 2023 and has only defended it probably twice the whole time.

It’s not as if WWE has not had chances to put him in title matches, they just haven’t. He has been around, more than capable of being in them. However, instead of making him defend the title against another mid-card talent…they put him in an Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match against Cody Rhodes for the upcoming King & Queen of the Ring PLE in Saudi Arabia.

WHAT MAKES LOGAN PAUL DESERVING OF THIS?!?

We’ll be honest, when SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis told the world Logan Paul would be Cody’s challenger, it was pretty amusing. Paul has done absolutely nothing to deserve this match over other members of the SmackDown roster. He realized this himself, which is why Paul tried to push some sort of weird narrative about how he actually “DID” deserve this.

He tried to make it seem like the 2023 Royal Rumble match that Cody won was not as big of a deal. Why? Because the world was talking about Logan’s spot with Ricochet, obviously. Paul then claimed that he is the longest-reigning champion in the WWE right now. This is true, so we cannot ignore that he is the WWE United States Champion, and that matters.

Paul then pushed the narrative forward that his company, Prime, is a big success. His company’s logo is in the center of the ring for all WWE PLEs, and this company is doing incredibly well. Clearly, his success in the business world cannot be overlooked.

Logan laid his claim, but how much of what he said is a lie or leaves out context? Let’s discuss that!

FACT CHECK:

While Logan is not wrong that his spot in the 2023 Rumble was cool and we were talking about it…Cody won the Rumble. Yet this does not really matter because Rhodes lost his title match against Roman at WrestleMania 39. Cody went on to win the 2024 Rumble match, which allowed him to face Reigns at WrestleMania 40. Meaning 2023’s Rumble means nothing here.

Coincidentally, Paul was the first WWE Superstar to go on Twitter/X in support of Cody getting his title match this year. He’d write “We Want Cody” in his viral post.

While Logan is the longest reigning champion in the company, he ignores some key material. A lot of titles did change hands recently, but Rhea Ripley was the Women’s World Champion for over a year before having to vacate it recently. It’s also easy to hold onto your gold when you defend your title twice in 6 months. Cody has defended his WWE Undisputed Championship once already and will tie Logan’s title defenses later this month.

Hate or love Prime, Paul is 100% right about the success of the overall company. During the 2022 fiscal year, Prime Hydration was able to bring in $250 million in retail sales leading to $100 million in gross. By November 2023, the company had sold over one billion bottles. As of this writing, they are expecting to surpass $1.2 billion in sales during the 2024 fiscal year. Prime is now the fastest-growing beverage in history, growing faster than Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Gatorade.

Of course, Logan only gets a fraction of the money from the company but that is another story for another time.

LOGAN PAUL IS A GO-TO FOR SAUDI SHOWS

During Logan Paul’s promo, we kept wondering when he’d tell us something relevant. What qualifies him for this match? Being a champion means nothing when you barely defend it. The 2023 Rumble spot was cool but means nothing now. Prime is doing well, cool, but what does this have to do with YOU deserving a World Title match?

It seems that WWE likes to just insert Paul into all of the Saudi Arabian shows. Let’s not forget that his first World Title match took place at the WWE Crown Jewel PLE a few years ago. In 2023, he even faced Rey Mysterio for the WWE United States Title, where he won the gold also at the Crown Jewel PLE. While this title match might not be that exact event, it is still Saudi Arabia.

This gives Paul three straight title matches at Saudi events. At least with Roman Reigns, he had been holding the gold for a while and had faced some people twice. Throwing Paul in there was understandable. Logan did great in the match, even tearing his ACL in the process. Yet no one expected him to win.

The Saudis would certainly feel the same here. However, what claim to a title match does he have over the likes of LA Knight, Randy Orton, and several others? All of which have done more to earn one.

WWE seems to love using Paul in Saudi Arabia for some reason. We fail to see why they do. If this was a heavily tech-driven nation such as South Korea, we could see why they would. However, this is Saudi Arabia…known for its censorship…especially over the internet. Therefore, it is not as if he is some major celebrity there or something.

CODY RHODES’ CONFUSING REMARK

Many people were confused by what WWE was doing here. They made this out to be a champion vs champion match, which makes sense. We have two champions facing off against the other. However, SmackDown GM Nick Aldis told us that Cody will be defending his title against Logan Paul. He never said anything about Paul putting his title on the line too. This tells us that Aldis claimed it was only a WWE Undisputed Universal Championship match.

However, Cody told Paul that if he were to win the WWE United States Championship, it would make him a Grandslam champion. This is true. After winning his first World Title at WrestleMania, he completed the triple crown. Considering he has been a multi-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and multi-time WWE Tag Team Champion before his World Title win.

This means the only title he has yet to win is indeed the United States Title to complete WWE’s Grandslam goal.

However, this was such an odd remark by Rhodes. Why would it matter if winning this title would give you that? It is not as if Logan is putting this title on the line, right? If so, why would WWE not make that more clear?

As of now, we’re under the impression that this is a winner-takes-all type of match. Where the winner takes both championships. If that is the idea here, why? We might love Cody, but do we need him to hold two titles? We certainly don’t need Logan Paul to do so.

Does this mean Logan Paul is only worthy of this match simply because he holds the U.S. Title?

WWE needs to likely clear this up more for us by next week.