Logan Paul remained victorious retaining his United States Championship after surviving stunners from Kevin Owens and RKO from Randy Orton in the triple threat match at WrestleMania 40. Paul promoted his energy drink brand PRIME heavily at the event, especially, during the triple threat match.
Paul’s PRIME has been WWE’s exclusive Official Hydration Drink Partner and promotion of it in the biggest WWE annual event is a big deal. WrestleMania 40 also sets a record-breaking attendance of 72,755 as Snoop Dogg announced on Sunday during the live event.
WWE Fans Ridicule Logan Paul’s PRIME
Logan Paul’s PRIME energy drink has faced a huge blow as fans chanted ‘Gatorade’ during the triple threat match— Paul vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens for the United States Championship. Paul has been a sneaky heel at WWE with a bag of tricks in his arsenal that, one way or another, helped him retain the championship by defending the title against two veterans.
Gatorade chant.#WrestleMANia pic.twitter.com/CaPFIONgJ8
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) April 8, 2024
However, it seemed that his heel turn may have cost him dearly as fans chanted the name of PRIME’s primary competitor brand, Gatorade. As Paul gave a big splash to Randy Orton in a corner of the squared circle Owens gave him a superkick, at that moment, fans chanted ‘Gatorade.’ Free promotion for Paul’s competitor while Orton smashed Maverick’s buddy and YouTuber, IShowSpeed while he was promoting PRIME bottles.
Paul’s brand has been doing wonders for his company as they are set to cross an astonishing 1.2 billion bottles sold (per Bloomberg). However, the market for it has been very competitive and any blow to the brand could be fatal.
PRIME Faced A Huge Controversy Before
Last year in July, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged the Food and Drugs Administration to investigate the PRIME energy drink’s alleged higher amount of caffeine use. Owned by Paul and his fellow YouTuber and social media influencer, KSI, the viral product faced criticism following the allegation. “Buyer and parents beware because it’s a serious health concern for the kids it so feverishly targets,” Schumer said at a news conference in New York (via The Independent). “This is an eye-popping level of caffeine for a young kid’s body,” he added.
Following the allegations, the company gave a statement to NBC saying that the consumer’s priority was the primary concern of the brand. “As a brand, our top priority is consumer safety,” the statement said (via The Independent).
“So we welcome discussions with the FDA or any other organization regarding suggested industry changes they feel are necessary in order to protect consumers.”
Paul also reacted to the controversy that the allegations have fuelled saying that the consumers of the brand are mostly above 18. “That’s such a heavy claim. But I want to dive into it. You know, we are a social media-first company,” he said (via The Independent).
“The good thing about social media is there’s data, right? There’s analytics. 90 per cent of my audience is above the age of 18. 93 per cent of Prime’s audience is above the age of 18, according to Instagram’s analytics.”
Regardless, PRIME has been one of the most sought-after energy drinks of recent times with an astonishing number of fanbases, primarily for the association of Paul and KSI’s names involved. But the brand also faced severe backlash as well.
