13 Ups & 9 Downs For WWE In 2022

5. Logan Paul

Logan Paul
WWE.com

The picture of Logan Paul flying through the air during his incredible Crown Jewel main event against Roman Reigns speaks a thousand words about his first year in WWE, and if it didn't he'd presumably happily do it instead.

The influencer came in as a natural heel, but was attacked by his mate The Miz after stealing a sizeable part of a glorious WrestleMania: Night One in their tag match together. It was no fluke or case of beginner's luck though - Paul held his own against Miz in their SummerSlam singles bout, and then raised both the roof and everybody's expectations of what he can offer in a main event that could well stand as the 'Tribal Chief's best match of the year.

At present, Paul Logan Paul is the wrestler Shane McMahon constantly wished he could be, and is ten times better than that too. He does a lot, but does so from his position of immense privilege and the opportunity to pick his spots in situations designed around highlighting his positives. But he's also shown a keen grasp of the intangibles and radiates more star quality than literally hundreds of wrestlers that have passed through WWE's Performance Center.

Will he tire of it all, or is he just getting started? 2023 will give us those answers, but 2022 changed the questions.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett