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Six years after defending the United States Championship at WrestleMania, WWE star Randy Orton will challenge for the belt on Sunday night.
Logan Paul is facing The Apex Predator for the first time in his career. The Maverick addressed this on The Pat McAfee Show ahead of the event, praising The Viper for the years the latter put in to become the legend that he is today.
As for Kevin Owens, who is also competing in the title contest, Paul feels that The Prizefighter is a non-factor at this point. The United States Champion successfully defended the belt against Owens at Royal Rumble in January, albeit by disqualification:
"I beat Kevin Owens already. So if I'm being honest, Randy is my true opponent in this match. He's a legend. I'm honored to be in the ring with The Legend Killer. Seriously, like, Randy Orton is one of the best that WWE has. He's amazing, and so it is going to be a great match but, Randy Orton is really who I have my eyes set on," Paul said.
This is Orton's first WrestleMania in two years having been out of action from May 2022 to November 2023 owing to injuries. Moreover, Randy has only held the US Title once in his career. The reign lasted less than a month before he dropped it to Jinder Mahal on the grand stage in 2018.
Randy Orton was allegedly "p*ssed" at WWE for WrestleMania 35
A year after losing the US Title at the Show of Shows, Randy Orton wrestled AJ Styles. The match was second on the card and went on for 16 minutes and 20 seconds before Styles scored the pinfall victory.
Speaking on the Fanatics Live stream on UpUpDownDown recently, The Phenomenal One revealed that he was so mad that their match was affected by the lighting, which blinded many of the fans in attendance:
"That’s definitely one to forget because the lights were blinding people. We were supposed to go two or one, and then, of course, Brock [Brock Lesnar] gets to do anything he wants, so he switched it. By the time we went out there, the lights had come on and blinded half the stadium. I was pi*sed. You know who was even more pi*sed than me? Randy [Randy Orton]. I knew I didn’t have to get mad if Randy was mad," said Styles.
Same as The Viper, Styles is also competing this weekend after missing last year's WrestleMania. He is booked in a grudge match against LA Knight. The two got into a brawl on media day which led to The Phenomenal One getting bloodied.
If you use the quote, please credit The Pat McAfee Show and give a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.
