Logan Paul has earned a tremendous amount of respect from WWE fans after he appeared to save his opponent from a potential disaster.
On Saturday, the social media icon took part in his eighth match for the WWE, after re-signing with the company back in April.
Paul took on the luchador legend Rey Mysterio in a one-on-one match for the WWE United States Championship at the company's Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The match came about after Paul called out Mysterio after winning his boxing match against Bellator MMA fighter Dillon Danis last month.
Now, although some wrestling fans were quick to criticize Paul when he first debuted in a WWE ring, his athleticism, character work, and background as a wrestler in high school meant that he took to the unique form of entertainment quickly. And, after being signed to the company as a WWE Superstar, Paul had repeatedly showed off his incredible skills in the ring - far beyond those of a wrestler who has only had eight matches.
However, it looks like fans have been left in awe by the level of "ring awareness" Paul showed on Saturday, as he appeared to save Mysterio from what could have been a disastrous incident. Check out the moment below:
The moment came late into the match and saw Mysterio (real name Óscar Gutiérrez Rubio) attempt to hit Paul with a springboard moonsault off the second rope. (Essentially, Mysterio attempted a backflip off the second rope with the hopes of safely landing on Paul.)
But as Rey was mid-air, it became apparent that he did not get enough distance, and looked to be falling to the mat head-first. That was until Paul quickly recognized what had happened, and quickly stepped forward in order to catch his opponent safely - resulting in Rey avoiding what could have been a career-ending injury - or worse.
Viewers were quick to take to X (formerly known as Twitter) to shower Paul with praise - especially given his short career in WWE.
Sharing the clip, one person tweeted: "You ever want to understand why Logan Paul has the respect of his peers in the wrestling business??? No one at this stage should have the ring awareness he does. He quite literally saved Rey Mysterio from a serious injury here. Just great stuff."
A second added: "Logan Paul just saved Rey Mysterio from landing DIRECTLY on his head on that moonsault."
"Jesus Christ, Logan Paul just saved Rey Mysterio from a broken neck," a third wrote.
A fourth X user tweeted: "Say whatever you want about Logan Paul in the WWE, he genuinely just saved Rey Mysterio’s life, or at the very least his spine."
"Not only is it impressive that Logan Paul has that level of ring awareness to save Rey Mysterio from injury that early in his career, I love how he caught Rey," another person tweeted. "Drops to his knees to catch him and still doesn’t drop him."
And it was another successful night for Paul, as he went on to beat Rey (via classic WWE shenanigans) to win his first championship in the company.
Following the match, Paul also received high praise of former WWE Champion and Chief Content Officer Triple H, who tweeted: "Just 8 matches into his career, @LoganPaul has cemented his place in the world of sports entertainment... and now, he’s got the hardware to prove it.
"Congratulations to your new U.S. Champion, 'The Maverick' Logan Paul."
