Paul

Story

Paul Pheonix built his entire life around martial arts, neglecting any sort of professional career. He only pursues fighting and training while making just enough money through streetfights and odd jobs that make use of his skills to get by. For the longest time, Paul remained undefeated, his strength and wits unmatched, but one man managed to fight him to a draw, the young Kazuya Mishima. Finding a worthy rival, Paul joined the first King of Iron Fist tournament to fight him once again and claim victory.

While Paul shows off his sheer strength by defeating a massive bear, he is ultimately defeated by Kazuya in a long and exhausting fight. Still high in spirits, Paul goes back to practicing, polishing his skill in the dojo and getting in some practice while working as a bouncer in New York. Stronger than ever and still burning with passion, he immediately joins the second King of Iron Fist tournament after it's announced. Paul beats Kuma once again and gets a chance to finally fight Kazuya, but his plans get dashed in the most unforeseen way. On his road to the fight, Paul is stuck in a traffic jam caused by a car accident, forcing him to forfeit the match.

Nearly two decades pass. Despite his age, Paul continues to train and keeps himself in top condition. With the announcement of the third King of Iron Fist tournament, he once again jumps at the opportunity to prove himself as the best fighter. Winning fight after fight, Paul finally gets to face off against Ogre and manages to defeat him as well. Overjoyed with his victory, Paul begins to boast and celebrate, not knowing that the tournament continued after Ogre transformed into his real form - True Ogre.

Despite Paul insisting that he's the real winner, nobody believed him or took him seriously. His ego swelled while his success and popularity slowly faded away. A few years later, Paul learns of the fourth King of Iron Fist tournament. Frustrated and eager to prove that he's the real champion, he enters the tournament, only to lose to his longstanding rival, Kuma.

Humbled by this defeat, Paul realized his hubris and that he strayed from his path of becoming the best of the best. He immediately starts working on getting himself back in shape, entering another King of Iron Fist tournament just two months later. Paul gets a rematch against Kuma, and this time emerges victorious. However, fighting Kuma exhausts him to a point where he can no longer continue with the competition and has to withdraw.

Losing out on his chance to win the money, Paul is left in a precarious financial situation and hopes to remedy it by formulating a plan. To secure the prize, he makes a deal with Law to team up for the sixth King of Iron Fist tournament and split the cash. While the two had a great chance to achieve this goal, their collective incompetence led to a failure.

With the seventh King of Iron Fist tournament, Paul seeks a new opportunity to earn fame and finally rematch with his long-time rival, Kazuya, only to come up against yet another bear.

Personality

Paul is a very confident and braggadocious man. Unlike the typical stoic martial artists who only seek self-improvement, Paul enjoys and seeks the recognition and fame of being the best of the best. Despite his reputation as a tough, hot-blooded fighter, Paul is still a kind man and can be a bit of a dork.

Appearance

Paul is a tall, muscular man with blue eyes, blonde hair, a scruffy beard, a scorpion tattoo on his right arm, and an outrageously high flat top haircut. His most recognizable and iconic outfit is a simple red gi with torn-off sleeves. Following that, he's often seen in a complete biker outfit with black boots, black leather pants, a black leather jacket, and a white t-shirt. The jacket and pants feature fire and skull decorations, which are swapped for US flag motifs in the Tekken 7 redesign.

Playstyle

Paul is a fantastic character with only minor drawbacks and outstanding strengths. His versatile toolkit leads to Paul being good regardless of what situation he finds himself in. On defense, Paul has some of the most menacing keep-out moves that make approaching him a significant risk, as just one stray hit can lead to a devastating combo. While his poking is primarily average, he still has tools in his arsenal to chip away at opponents and punish whiffs. 

On offense, Paul remains a beastly character with various mixups, evasive moves, and highly threatening counter-hit launchers that make any attempt to fight back intimidating. On top of that, if Paul manages to get his opponent to the wall, their fate is sealed. With two powerful homing moves, it's easy for Paul to lock down his opponents. Once they're rooted at the wall, he has several tough to deal with mixups that can immediately turn the tides in his favor, especially if Paul has access to his Rage Art cancel, which leads to some of the most obliterating combos in the game.