Jelly Roll reveals real reason for debut match at WWE SummerSlam

Jelly Roll revealed the real reason he will be competing in his debut WWE match at SummerSlam 2025. The popular musician will be teaming up with Randy Orton to battle Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul at the PLE next month in New Jersey.

Speaking with Stephanie McMahon on the What's Your Story? podcast, Jelly Roll revealed how he was inspired to have a match after hitting Austin Theory with a Chokeslam at SummerSlam last year. The music star noted that he had a conversation with Triple H backstage and said that if he lost enough weight, he wanted to have a match.

"So I walk straight to the back, and I'm like completely tone-deaf in the moment. Now I've been around y'all business enough to know how wild this was. But I walk back like they are not in the middle of producing the show, and I'm like, 'Everybody stop what you're doing!'. I was like, 'Paul (Triple H), if I lose another 100 pounds, can I do one of these?'. He was like, 'Yeah, man'," said Jelly Roll.

Jelly Roll noted that he had lost 75 pounds by the time his appearance at WWE WrestleMania 41 came around.

"Circle back around WrestleMania this year; I'm down about another 75. You know what I'm saying? Paul's like, 'Dude, you're looking good.' I was like, 'Am I looking match-ready?'. And Paul goes, 'You're really close, man.' And I was like, 'What about SummerSlam?'. He was like, 'You do your part, we'll do ours.' It really became a North Star for my journey two years ago when I started the process," he added.

You can check out the video below:

Jelly Roll and Randy Orton recently had a confrontation with Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre on Jimmy Kimmel Live! ahead of WWE SummerSlam.

WWE Hall of Famer reacts to fans criticizing Jelly Roll

Wrestling legend Teddy Long recently commented on fans criticizing Jelly Roll ahead of WWE SummerSlam.

Speaking on Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine podcast, Long noted that the company was in the entertainment business and that was why they brought in people from outside of wrestling. He added that old-school WWE fans had to start getting used to celebrity appearances because times have changed.

"No, why would you get bothered by that? I understand what this is. It's World Wrestling Entertainment. They're going to bring in people from Hollywood and everywhere else. The good part about this, Bad Bunny, Logan Paul, those guys are drawing money. People want to see them. You have the old school wrestling fans that don't believe [this]. Times have changed now, you've got to change with the times." (7:46-8:23)

You can check out the video below:

It will be interesting to see which tag team emerges victorious at WWE SummerSlam 2025.

If you use the quotes from the first half of this article, please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.