Logan Paul is the WWE’s newest signing.
The controversial YouTuber, who competed at WrestleMania 38 in April, has reportedly signed a multi-year deal, although details of the contract have not been revealed.
On Thursday, Paul, 27, uploaded a photo of himself with Stephanie McMahon, interim WWE chief executive and chairwoman and Paul Levesque (also known as wrestler Triple H), WWE executive vice president of Global Talent Strategy and Development, announcing he had signed with the company.
"I think it’s safe to say @LoganPaul shocked the world with his abilities as a guest at #WrestleMania … just imagine what he’ll do as a @WWE Superstar. Congratulations and welcome!" Triple H tweeted.
After signing his contract, he didn’t take any time to hint at who his next opponent could be — calling out The Miz, who was his former tag team partner at WrestleMania 38.
The two teamed up to take on Rey and Dominik Mysterio at the marquee two-day event that was held in Arlington, Texas. However, after the match, The Miz turned on Paul by hitting him with his Skull Crushing Finale finisher, setting up a potential storyline feud between the two.
The news of the signing has surprised some people, however wrestling fans who have seen the influencer in the ring believe it could be a good thing to come.
Ross Tweddell, a writer and presenter for the wrestling news website Cultaholic, says that he is on board with the signing, adding that Paul “proved he’s not only a natural but also invested in what he’s doing too.”
Another Twitter user agreed, saying that Paul was a “natural entertainer bro” who had “more charisma than literally 99.9% of wrestlers.”
Another twitter user also called him “one of the highlights of WrestleMania” praising how well he looked in the ring. Sean Ross Sapp, a wrestling reporter for Fightful.com also said it was a positive signing for the WWE especially considering that Paul is a "big name to have".
Paul currently has a very large fanbase with 23.5 million YouTube subscribers and 23.2 million followers on Instagram.
However, there are have been some critics of the move. One user said that they had quit watching WWE programming because "the quality of the product has been steadily going downhill for a bit" and that adding Paul was more reason for them to not return. Someone else suggest the contract between the two sides as a side that "things are bad".
Paul first found fame on the now-defunct social media platform Vine, where he attained a modest following with his short, comedic videos. After Vine was discontinued, Paul turned to YouTube also using his fame to land small roles on television.
It was also during this time, he was also embroiled in a number of controversaries. One of the most notable was posting a vlog on YouTube from Japan's "suicide forest" that showed the body of an apparent suicide victim, causing major backlash with more than 720,000 people signing a Change.org petition to have his channel deleted — which did not happen.
Off of social media, he's still found ways to keep the spotlight on himself. He's been in two boxing matches with fellow YouTube star KSI and also had a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. He also competed on the fifth season of The Masked Singer in the US, getting eliminated in his second appearance.
Scroll the gallery below to see images from Logan Paul and KSI's boxing match from 2021.
