You may know Logan Paul as one of the largest social media influencers on the planet today with millions upon millions of followers on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. But, did you know he was a wrestler? Yes, that’s right! Before he and his brother, Jake Paul, were dominating the boxing ring, Logan was actually dominating kids on the mat.
A Stud on the Mat, Field, & Classroom
Logan Paul attended Westlake High School in Ohio and competed on the Division I level in wrestling and football. As he admits in this video reacting to himself before he was famous, he was a savage at both. With a 4.7 GPA, Logan was also a stud in the classroom.
In football Paul was a starting running back and linebacker who had 92 tackles, 62 solos, 1,400 years, and 18 touchdowns in the Southwestern Conference. He even made the Plain Dealer’s All-Star team in 2012 and helped lead his team to the playoffs for the first time since 1989. But, enough about his football career, let’s talk about Logan Paul’s wrestling career. . .
Paul wrestled for the Westlake Demons with his brother Jake — who you can see in this video sending Logan off to the state tournament. While he may have looked like a total newbie in 8th grade by wearing a helmet instead of a headgear (he busted his head off of his trampoline), Logan made his high school team during his Sophomore through Senior years and even qualified twice for the Division 1 Ohio High School Athletic Association State Tournament. In his senior year Paul even took 5th place at states.
Analyzing Logan Paul’s Wrestling Career
Find brackets from many famous wrestlers who are a bit older can be difficult. However, in this modern internet age, we have a unique opportunity to analyze Logan Paul’s brackets because he is so young.
Logan graduated high school in 2013 and in his junior year entered the Ohio State Tournament at 160 lbs. with a record of 35-10. That year he went 0-2. Unfortunately, in his second match he lost to a kid who battled through the consolations to eventually place.
In his senior year, Logan improved and took 5th at the OHSAA Division 1 State Tournament at 182 lbs. That year, he entered the tournament with 2 losses. After losing his first match to Gunner Lay from Loveland, Logan started to battle back. He picked up two decisions and a pin before losing again to Lay to head to the 5th/6th placing match. More than most wrestlers can say, he at least ended his high school wrestling career with a win to take 5th place.
Logan Paul vs. Domenic Abounader
If you’re a big wrestling fan like myself, then you probably enjoy sifting through old brackets to find matchups between “big name” guys. Find those matches are always fun, unless, of course, you are the one who lost the match. Ben Askren actually called out Jake Paul for an old loss to Cornell’s Ben Darmstadt. Just like his brother, Logan shares an equally disheartening loss.
Paul’s most interesting match did not happen at the OHSAA State Tournament, but rather a few weeks earlier at the district tournament when he wrestled Domenic Abounader. If you’re unfamiliar, Abounader is an All-American from the University Michigan and represents Lebanon on the international stage. Originally, though, Abounader wrestled at St. Edward’s in high school. He was a 3X State Champ and even won Paul’s bracket in his senior year.
Paul recounts his whole experience wrestling Abounader in this absolutely hilarious video, which I recommend that you watch. But the gist of it is this: Paul was supposed to wrestle Abounader at the Section tournament but forfeited due to a tweaked knee. At Districts he couldn’t run again, so he faced him in the finals. After being down 7-2 and lateral dropping him, Abounader eventually threw Paul and pinned him. Paul considers this one of the most embarrassing moments of his life.
The two guys have had a few funny twitter exchanges since that time, including when Abounader tweeted out an embarrassing photo of Logan Paul once he became famous.
Life After Wrestling
After high school, Paul’s wrestling career didn’t stop. He actually went to Ohio University to wrestle, but dropped out of school to pursue a Vine career. As a Vine star he made 6 second skits, including the very popular “supermarket wrestler. In the videos he would jump out in a singlet and challenge grocery store customers to a wrestling match. As his acting and social career grew, Paul created videos of him wrestling even scarier creatures than Domenic Abounader: bears, alligators, and sumo wrestlers.
Today he even carries on his mental toughness he learned from wrestling into the boxing ring against competitors like KSI and Floyd Mayweather. He even offered $10,000 to any influencer who could beat him in a wrestling match. It appears that Paul may have left wrestling, but the wrestling hasn’t left Paul.
Even if he doesn’t mean to do it, Logan Paul actively promotes the sport of wrestling by sharing his stories on the mat, boxing against wrestlers, and calling out influencers for wrestling matches. You can make the decision about whether you think he’s a good role model for young athletes, but it is at least cool to call him a wrestler.
