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The WWE is heading to Mrsool Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, November 5 for its annual Crown Jewel pay-per-view. The headliner main event will feature undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defending his title against none other than Logan Paul.
The social media superstar has made numerous appearances in the WWE over the past few years and has two matches under his belt in 2022. He will be a definite underdog to Reigns on Saturday and will most likely come up short against the top star in wrestling at the moment. However, if he were to pull off the major upset and topple Reigns, he’d join a very short list of celebrities who won championship gold in wrestling.
The last (and only) celebrity to hold a major world championship was actor David Arquette, who won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in April of 2000.
Cross-promoting his movie Ready to Rumble, Arquette began appearing on WCW television in spring of 2000 alongside Diamond Dallas Page. On an episode of WCW Thunder, he teamed with DDP in a tag team match against Jeff Jarrett and Eric Bischoff, where the stipulation was that whoever scored the pinfall would become world champion. Despite his real-life objections to the outcome, Arquette pinned Bischoff to win the WCW title. He would drop the title in a triple-threat, triple-cage match at the Slamboree ppv the following month, turning on Page to allow Jarrett to take the title.
Arquette’s title victory is often cited as one of the worst booking decisions in wrestling history and one of the many reasons why WCW closed shop shortly afterwards in 2001. The actor himself has been tormented by the the legacy of this decision and released a documentary in 2020 titled You Can’t Kill David Arquette, where he tries to find peace for himself by returning to wrestling.
While current-day WWE is in nowhere near the level of peril WCW was in during the year 2000, it will be interesting to see the reaction if Paul does in fact walk out with the world title at Crown Jewel.