Since the age of pro wrestling dating back to even before the Golden Era of the eighties, the pro wrestling industry backstage was always about respect…the younger guard showing respect to the old guard. The ‘handshake’ as it is known in pro wrestling, is the ultimate sign of respect. The younger guys and gals going up to the veterans, and no matter how they’re treated, introduce themselves and go from there, and many in the industry have talked about it.
In WWE however, they often do have a lot of celebrity guests that come on through the turnstiles to do their thing—promote this, promote that—and really there’s no way of these celebs knowing how the locker room works or what is historically acceptable in terms of proper respect shown.
Enter Logan Paul.
Logan Paul is an internet sensation if ever there was one. If he is famous it is because he shattered walls put upon him by becoming a YouTube star and has grown that fame considerably. He is also a legitimate fighter and has won many bouts he has set up, and by the time WrestleMania 37 came about in 2021 (Mania 37), and a bit before on WWE TV (he working an angle with the hilarious Sami Zayn at that time), he entered into the world of professional wrestling.
He would of course make his in-ring debut alongside the Miz at Mania 38.
Now, we must call a spade a spade folks, because man did he put the work in. He is an athlete after all, and he trains vigorously, so he showed up in shape, but he also had the moves he executed in the ring down perfectly and the matches he has had thus far, even at SummerSlam against the Miz did not at all suffer. Pacing wise, he was spot on.
via WWE on YouTube
And the camera loves him, so the charisma factor is certainly there as well.
But if you talk to some of the veterans backstage, perhaps Logan does need to work on one thing, and it all goes back to that handshake I talked about earlier. Here’s some of what Bobby Lashley had to say while speaking with TV Insider:
“I’m interested to see how it works out…I know he put in the work. There is a difference though. When I first came into the business, you went up and shook everyone’s hand to get to know everyone. I haven’t gotten the chance to know Logan that much. He has passed by a few times. I walked by and shook his hand.
I don’t know if he’ll be a full-time person on the roster, but it would be good for him to shake a little more hands and get to know more people. For the most part, he has been doing great. The times he has gotten in there he has picked it up so quickly. He hasn’t had the opportunity to settle in though. If he settles in, I think he will do good.”
So it seems as though Bobby is in the dark as far as Logan’s future with the company is concerned just as much as most are. According to a recent report at Mirror, Logan has gotten his brother’s blessing to throw hands with veteran fighter Andrew Tate; both Jake and Tate were going back and forth in quite the feud.
Questions are still up in the air about the whole situation, but if Logan Paul intends to make the most out of his WWE contract, which is said to be multi-year, then he should heed Bobby Lashley’s very sound advice.
