Story highlights "These kinds of theatrics by Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are an entertaining sideshow, but they have nothing to do with defeating Hillary Clinton," Rubio said

Paul said the collective IQ of the debate has increased now that Trump will not participate

Washington (CNN) Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday welcomed Donald Trump's announcement that he was skipping the upcoming Fox News debate, saying the "IQ of the debate went up."

"It's an improvement to the debate. The IQ of the debate went up a couple dozen points, I would say," he told Fox News Wednesday morning.

"He thinks he's already elected himself king. I say, good riddance. We're going to have a much better debate," Paul added.

Paul is returning to the debate stage after he boycotted the last Republican event earlier this month because Fox Business Network assigned him to the "undercard" stage.

"It's sort of a double win for me. Not only am I on the main stage ... I think we'll have the best debate we've ever had," Paul said.