This past summer, American singer/songwriter Jelly Roll made his WWE debut when he partnered with Randy Orton to take on Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul in tag team action at SummerSlam. Coming into the match, Jelly Roll had already begun his weight loss journey, having dropped nearly 200 pounds before he started training at the WWE Performance Center. In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet on "Insight," Jelly Roll reflected on preparing for his SummerSlam match, explaining that he chose to move to Orlando, Florida to get the most out of his training, but admitted the process was punishing.
"They were like, 'Hey man, we can send a ring to you and a couple of trainers a couple days a week, or you can come down to the PC and train unlimitedly' ... I went and did another ring test with them down there cause then I had to get approved by them, like Shawn Michaels comes in, Matt Bloom, Coach Moss, Brookside, like it's that moment ... you got to prove to them you can take the bumps too," Jelly Roll said. "I lived down there for probably 40 days, 45 days. I trained five, six days a week during that time ... I'm not looking for sympathy on your YouTube channel here. Somebody's going to make fun of me maybe, but it was brutal."
Jelly Roll also spoke about his celebrity opponent Logan Paul, sharing that he was impressed with the frog splash that the YouTube star usually performs from the top turnbuckle onto the announce table. The Grammy Award winner was so captivated by watching Paul perform the splash that he was determined to be on the receiving end of the move during their match together.
"I had a vision of taking that spot like clear as day. And I was 500 pounds at the time, and I was like, I'm going to take that spot. Like, we're going to have the most viral moment. I'm gonna make this spot famous for Logan, you know what I mean? Like, in my heart I felt that way."
In addition to already wanting to return to in-ring competition, the rapper also revealed which celebrity inspired him to step inside the ropes.
"I will wrestle again for sure cause I know why Bad Bunny did it now. He was my hero in this scenario. Like I watched his matches every night before I went to sleep ... if I can just do half as good as Bad Bunny did his first match, I might get a little love," Jelly Roll stated. "He made me want to do it. He's the reason I signed up. Bad Bunny was the first celebrity I ever watched do it that didn't disgust me a little bit."
Jelly Roll continued to explain that he didn't want his in-ring stint to be focused on promoting his music career, explaining that he turned down the opportunity to sing in front of the WWE Universe and purposely scheduled his match at SummerSlam without an upcoming tour.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
