Royal Rumble 2024 added a United States Championship to the card as the ongoing tournament to crown a new challenger for the title has concluded. With this, the celebrity star Logan Paul has also now received his first opponent to defend the US Title since winning the belt last October.
This week’s special episode of Smackdown dubbed as New Year’s Revolution, opened with a banger where Kevin Owens defeated Santos Escobar to win the WWE United States Championship Number-One Contender’s Tournament, with reigning US Champion Logan Paul sitting on commentary. With the win, Owens has now secured his shot to face Paul with the US title on the line at Royal Rumble 2024 PLE.
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Heading into the contender’s match, Escobar’s former associates from Legado del Fantasma, Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro, neutralized his latest allies, Angel Garza and Humberto. Escobar was distracted by this and Owens capitalized with a cannonball and a splash off the top rope. Escobar tried to counter by focusing on the broken hand of his opponent much to the pleasure of Paul who was hoping to face Escobar at Royal Rumble 2024.
Owens planted Escobar with a DDT, followed by a suplex from the top rope and then another cannonball off the apron. However, he missed a top rope move by putting his knees up. Eventually, The Prizefighter would hit a Pop-Up Powerbomb followed by a Stunner to book his ticket for the Royal Rumble 2024.
Kevin Owens knocked out Logan Paul after securing Royal Rumble 2024 title shot
An altercation took place between the two future combatants as Paul got on the microphone, and told the audience that Owens winning the US Title would be something like “the Canucks winning the Stanley Cup … it’s never gonna happen.” Owens didn’t say a word but delivered a Knock-Out Punch which is a signature move of Paul to a huge pop from his familiar Vancouver, Canada territory.
On his way to Royal Rumble 2024, Kevin Owens has secured three consecutive victories on his way to win the tournament against the former US Champion Austin Theory, former NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes, and Santos Escobar. Bobby Lashley, Dragon Lee, Karrion Kross, and Grayson Waller were also part of this tournament but they were defeated by Escobar along the road.
