WWE Opened Raw With A Logan Paul Brawl To Keep Boos Off TV
WWE fans were expecting to see something new and different from Raw this week as it arguably marked the beginning of a new era. Vince McMahon has retired, and Triple H is now the head of creative. While the more wholesale changes will take a while to manifest, the show did open with a bang as the intro was skipped entirely in favor of showing Logan Paul and The Miz brawling in the ring.
The Miz And Logan Paul Brawl
It meant the show hit the ground running, and it almost felt like an intentional move by those now in charge of the show to set themselves apart from how McMahon might have opened the show. While that might have played into the decision to kick off Raw that way a little, according to Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer, the leading reason was so fans watching at home didn't hear people booing Paul.
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Paul has apparently been insistent he be portrayed as a babyface while under contract with WWE. However, some of his antics outside the company haven't exactly lent himself to getting good guy reactions. Since the first thing fans watching at home saw when Raw came on the air on Monday night was Paul beating up The Miz, it heightened the probability of fans actually wanting to see him. At least when it comes to WWE logic.
Don't Boo Logan Paul
The brawl to start the show wasn't the only time Paul appeared in the ring on Monday night. The internet personality returned later in the night to host his talk show, Impaulsive TV. Paul decided to open that segment by reminding fans his brother Jake will be boxing in New York City next month. Cue the boos WWE was desperately trying to avoid earlier in the night, but at least they were for Jake and not Logan.
That segment ended with Paul getting attacked by both The Miz and Tommaso Ciampa. Probably not a good idea to have Ciampa be one of the two opposite Paul as he was a firm favorite with fans in NXT. Somewhere WWE won't be able to avoid the natural fan reaction to Paul is SummerSlam where he will battle The Miz this weekend. If he's booed there, someone might have to speak with him about leaning into his natural heel tendencies moving forward.
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