Last Friday’s episode of SmackDown bore witness to an announcement as WWE unveiled a historic sponsorship deal with Prime Hydration, a company co-founded by Logan Paul and KSI in 2022.
This partnership marks the largest sponsorship agreement in WWE’s history and promises to reshape the landscape of WWE premium live events, commencing with WrestleMania 40, by prominently featuring the Prime logo at the centre of the wrestling mat.
This unprecedented move signifies WWE’s first foray into selling ad space in the centre of the ring, marking a significant departure from its traditional practices. The announcement of this collaboration, made in the presence of Logan Paul and KSI at SmackDown, sparked a wave of criticism from fans, manifesting in online memes depicting the Prime bottle logo intruding upon classic moments from WWE history.
In response to the backlash, Logan Paul addressed the matter on his ImPaulsive podcast, acknowledging the criticism while emphasising that the sale of the ad space was an inevitable progression, irrespective of the brand involved. He expressed his enthusiasm for the milestone achieved, recognising it as one of the most significant moments for the brand and the company. While acknowledging the discontent among diehard wrestling fans, Paul adopted a defiant stance, aligning himself with his heel persona and emphasising his intention to assert his dominance within the company.
It’s never been done, and Vince [McMahon] was always really protective of the mat and not putting any brands on it. But in this new era, which it is, no matter how you cut it, TKO is a publicly traded company, they got to meet a bottom line. That spot was going to be sold. We saw an opportunity, and potentially an opportunity to make people hate me even more, because I am a heel. And that’s kind of the angle I took. I was like, ‘F*ck y’all. I’m going to stamp everything about this with me so you’re reminded of just what my aim is: to take over in this company.’
Despite the initial backlash, Logan Paul expressed confidence that fans would eventually acclimate to the advertisement, foreseeing it becoming a standard practice. He dismissed concerns about the potential distraction caused by the ad and expressed the belief that, over time, fans would overlook its presence. Additionally, he humorously acknowledged the memes spawned by the announcement, expressing his admiration for the creativity of the fan-generated content.
If we don’t have this spot forever, which who knows what will happen, it’ll be someone else. And I promise you, if you’re a diehard WWE fan, you’ll forget about it. It’ll start to just be standard practice and I don’t think it’s going to be as distracting as y’all think.
Which WWE Event Did Logan Paul Confirm The Host Venue Of?
Recently Logan Paul confirmed that WWE SummerSlam will be heading to the Cleveland Browns Stadium for the “Biggest Show of The Summer” on August 3rd. This confirmation reaffirms earlier reports that had surfaced stating the host city was indeed going to be Cleveland, Ohio.
H/t to F4wonline.com