6
December 2023. 14x WWE Champion Randy Orton joins
the boys to discuss how he created the RKO, rivalry
vs John Cena, getting blackballed from WWE by Vince
McMahon, if he’s the GOAT, hilarious Brock Lesnar
& Triple H stories, being an a**hole, hatred for
Dominik Mysterio, RKO’ing fans in public &
more…
Logan
Paul on his potential future in wrestling: “I
didn’t realize how much wrestling and WrestleMania
would affect my life. I love it.” - April 7,
2022 (WrestlingNews.co)
By
Michael Schrute
Logan
Paul appeared on “MMA Fighting” to discuss
his potential wrestling career, whether he was offered
a longer WWE deal, and whether his schedule would
allow for it.
Logan
Paul talking about a potential career in wrestling:
“I
did not do a lot of prep for this. I really did not,”
Logan said. “To be honest with you, I didn’t
realize how much wrestling and WrestleMania would
affect my life. I love it. My whole family loves it.
We all had so much fun.”
“So
now I’m sitting here pondering like, literally,
what to do with the course of my life? Like, I fully
had like a boxing three year plan, and now it’s
like, okay, do I do boxing or wrestling? It’s
so much more fun. People seem to care.”
“It’s,
in my opinion, far less dangerous. You know, I’m
getting like, constantly just rattled in the head.
I don’t know man. Jake’s doing the boxing
thing. You know, I’m good at this wrestling thing.
Like, I feel like it comes really naturally to me.
Imagine if I practiced properly. I showed a fraction
of what I could do.”
“If
I actually got to Orlando at the Performance Center
and just like train, train, train, man, I can’t
imagine the type of stuff I’ll be able to pull
off.”
Logan
Paul was asked if WWE offered him a longer term deal:
“Not
yet. Maybe they will. I will say this. Vince McMahon
after my match, we shook hands. It was the good old
like, step dad Vince thing. He’s like, ‘Trust
me. Your future is here.’ Bro, come on. That’s
Vince McMahon. He’s a legend.”
“Him
being excited about the new guy’s performance,
it’s so validating. Even just the response and
feedback online I got after the match, haters or lovers,
not one negative comment. I think people were surprised
by my performance. I’m so grateful that they
liked it. I’m happy that I made them happy and
was able to entertain on a stage that big. You know,
it was probably 70,000 people watching.”
On
whether his schedule would allow him to sign a deal
with WWE:
“Truthfully,
it would come down to whatever the deal is because
I do have to allocate my time, specifically and strategically.
I love it.”
“I’m
willing to dedicate a lot of time to the WWE and enhancing
my skills, but it would just have to make monetary
sense for me. If I do that, I’m going to be unable
to do other things.”
You
can view Logan Paul’s entire interview with Ariel
Helwani below.
Boxing
and Pro Wrestling Connection for Logan Paul
"That
wasn't a plug. I was thirsty. I got blue red. 20 calories,
2 grams sugar. HaHaHa".
"I
don't know what else to do Ariel. I really don't know
what else to do. Likee, I have this frame that is
like atuned for combat. I like to work hard. I like
to beat people up. I like when they try to beat me
up back"...
"It's
just a good platform and I love it".
"Boxing
is just so much more intentionally violent, and both
sports have their danger"... "Both are extremely
primal. I often feel I'm born in the wrong generation.
I like the idea of two men, two women, humans going
at it with all they have but their body."
"'I
don't know, I just feel I'm built for it. Boxing ignites
a certain part of my brain that wrestling doesn't,
and wrestling ignites a certain part of my brain that
boxing doesn't, and I like going back and forth."
"We
gotta find a time in the schedule to carve out a time
to box because, you know, I am, I guess, technically
like a full-time wrestler. I'm on the roster. I have
a contract, and it's also a goal of mine to get WWE
@WWE
Championships. I didn't just come to partake. I came
to take over."
"You
don't do that if you are hopping in and out of the
sport, so we gotta find time to box and time to wrestle,
and they've been very accommodating." - Logan
Paul
@LoganPaul
to Ariel Helwani via The MMA Hour Podcast
@mmafighting
Combat
Sports: Boxing and Pro Wrestling Connection for Logan
Paul
Logan
Paul
@LoganPaul
spoke with Sports Illustrated
@SInow
to help boost the promotion for his upcoming boxing
bout on the Prime Card against Dillon Danis on October
14 of this year.
Some
prime quotes from the S.I interview and feature:
On
fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr:
“In
a weird way, the Floyd fight proved to me who I thought
I was. The biggest thing that surviving and thriving
against Floyd Mayweather did for me was boost my confidence
in a way that was so unfamiliar to me at the time.
Think about it. People kind of knew me, but then I
went toe-to-toe with the greatest boxer alive. So
people had to respect that. Ever since then, so many
doors have opened. Prime started. I got invited to
join the WWE. The confidence that fight gave me made
me turn into the man I always thought I would be.”
On
his success in WWE
@WWE
and boxing:
“It’s
a combination of self-belief with a little bit of
delusion. At first, I thought I was crazy. Eventually,
that belief, it’s become reality, and I believe
it–fully. That was the only way it could come
true. With WWE and boxing, and really everything I’m
doing, I’m very fortunate to have found something
I like and that I’m good at. I’m only warming
up.”
AEW
Dynamite's TBS debut averaged 1,010,000 viewers on
Wednesday night, up 3.6 percent from the final episode
on TNT. It’s just the second time since October
6 that the show has topped one million viewers.
In
the 18-49 demo, Dynamite drew a 0.43 rating, up 16.2
percent from last week. That’s the show's best
number in the demo since September 29.
This
is also the first week that Dynamite aired live on
the West Coast since October 6.
Dynamite
finished
second on the cable charts in 18-49, trailing
only an NBA game on ESPN that averaged 1.7 million
viewers and drew a 0.53 in 18-49.
The
show was up in every age group with the exception
of people over 50. In that category, Dynamite was
down 2.8 percent from the previous week.
The
biggest increase, by far, was in the 18-34 age group,
where the week-to-week jump was 79 percent.
The
show also increased more with women than with men.
In the 18-49 age group, women were up 20 percent and
men were up 10 percent. In 12-34, the difference was
even more dramatic. Females in that demo doubled last
week's number, while males were up 45 percent.
As
compared to this week last year, when Dynamite aired
head-to-head with NXT New Year's Evil and also against
news coverage of the United States Capitol insurrection,
Dynamite was up 52.6 percent in overall viewers and
up 72 percent in the demo.
Listed
below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership
and 18-49 demo numbers for Dynamite. The debut show
on TBS was up 8.7 percent in viewers and up 22.9 percent
in 18-49 from the 10-week averages prior to this week.
As
noted, the controversy surrounding Tony Khan and Big
Swole was a hot topic this weekend. It began with
an episode of Big Swole’s “Swole World”
show that aired on Call-In. During the episode, the
former AEW star pointed to a lack of diversity in
the top spots of the company as one of the leading
factors in her departure in 2021.
Tony
Khan responded in a single tweet, pointed to how other
people of color have succeeded in AEW, and then said
he let Swole’s contract expire because her wrestling
wasn’t good enough.
“The
top 2 @AEW execs are brown (me & Megha)!! Jade,
Bowens, Caster, Dante, Nyla, Isiah & Marq Quen
all won on tv this month. The TBS Title Tournament
has been very diverse. I let Swole’s contract
expire as I felt her wrestling wasn’t good enough.
#AEWRampage Street Fight TONIGHT!,” he
wrote.
Swole
continued to retweet posts throughout the day yesterday,
but it wasn’t until this morning that she finally
posted a tweet of her own. In it, she implored the
wrestling community to listen intently to her podcast
because she believes her words are being misunderstood.
“It’s
Sunday, take time to actually listen to the podcast
instead of reading headlines and excerpts. Understand
diversity isn’t just a statistic, counting us/POC
isn’t the mindset,” she writes. “Not
one time did I ever mention anyone as racist. Comprehension
is key.”
One
AEW star that quickly reacted to the situation in
frustration was Lio Rush, who demanded that Tony Khan
apologize for his statement to Big Swole. But since
that transpired, it looks as though Rush had a heart-to-heart
with Tony Khan and has more optimism toward their
process.
“I
want this to be clear… I do not consider this
to be a diversity issue, and I at no point have thought
or said that AEW or Tony is racist,” Lio Rush
writes. “We can all clearly see that wrestling
as a whole and the AEW roster is perpetually diverse.
The issue at hand was a racial insensitivity issue.
“Having
spoken to Tony and Megah, we have discussed the endeavors
to further understand the struggles of the black community.
I am grateful to be able to understand more about
Tony and Megah’s own ethnic backgrounds and glad
that they are actively seeking input from an African
American perspective. I am proud to work for a boss
and company that try to make these strides in social
equality,” Rush continues. “I look forward
to working with Tony to keep making steps towards
positive change. I pray that 2022 is a year of positive
change in all aspects. Happy New Year and GOD BLESS.
#BeTheChange”
Other
AEW stars like Powerhouse Hobbs, Jade Cargill, &
Shawn Dean also made statements concerning this ordeal.
You can see their various statements at
this link.
