Logan Paul will be back on this week’s Friday Night SmackDown after a chaotic few days on social media. The trouble started when a recent episode of his Impaulsive podcast featured an appearance from Roman Reigns. Following their interview, Paul teased the idea of challenging “The Tribal Chief.”
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“I can feel the dog coming out in me. Like when I watch him on TV and in the ring, I just wanna f—ing wrestle the guy…That’s what I do. I did it with Floyd Mayweather. My second opponent was Floyd f—ng Mayweather. Did you see what I did at SummerSlam? When was the last time you saw something like that done? Top rope, onto the table, in my second match ever.”
“It’s what I do. I love competing at the highest level as soon as I get into the thing,” he added. “You put me against Roman Reigns right now, I think I would win. Me vs. Roman Reigns one-on-one, that’s my match.”
Reigns noticed the comments and tried to have Paul Heyman “handle” the situation — “I bless the world and bring the Island of Relevancy to your show. You and your boys acknowledge me and as soon as I’m gone you run your mouth?! Wiseman, handle him.”
Heyman responded by writing, “My Tribal Cheif, please consider this HANDLED!” Paul then started antagonizing Heyman, which prompted Triple H to invite him to SmackDown. Shortly after that, WWE officially announced he’d be on the Blue Brand this week.
“…It just so happens I have a globally televised platform to allow our Superstars to ‘handle’ their issues with one another … consider this an invite for #Smackdown tomorrow night!” Triple H wrote.
Reigns reportedly won’t defend his championship again until the Crown Jewel pay-per-view in November, though WWE hasn’t hesitated to put celebrities in major matches at their annual Saudi shows in the past. Paul signed a contract with WWE earlier this year and is currently 2-0 in matches, beating The Miz back at SummerSlam.
“It is true, I signed a multi-match deal with WWE and we announced it. It went crazy viral and I love the response. People are excited to see me in WWE. For me, there is a trifecta that I look for that decides what I do. I say this with privilege because I can do this now because of the decades of hard work I put in. When I can mix passion, business, and media all into one thing, I’m ultimate me, happy place. Passion, when I did WrestleMania, I had so much fun. All my friends had fun, we were all smiling. It was awesome. I was looking at the clips, ‘I can’t believe that was me. Those were big jumps.’ Business, it’s smart, they pay well. WWE, it’s a big organization. Media, it’s a show. It’s great performance and entertainment,” Paul said on his podcast back in July.
“I’m excited for this journey and I am well aware of how powerful of a launch pad it can be for whatever I want to do in life,” Paul said. “Besides this show, my visibility online is not a lot. I’m not uploading on my main channel ever. I do this show every week and I do this and that, but WWE is a good opportunity for me to leverage one of the biggest brands in the world for my own, should I show up. Should I work hard. Go do the performances, impress the fans, and become that WWE character that is notorious or loved. I don’t know if I’m going to be a heel or babyface,” he added.
