Jelly Roll is tipping his hat to the Big Dog Daddy.
Over the weekend, Jelly Roll made another WWE appearance, taking on Logan Paul again during the WWE SummerSlam. Randy Orton faced Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul in the penultimate match Saturday night. While things might not have turned out the way that Jelly Roll wanted, with Paul and McIntyre winning the match, all these men put on one heck of a showdown, showcasing some incredible stunts and moves out of the ring.
Jelly Roll held his own in the ring, but this SummerSlam was much more than a celebrity appearance for Jelly Roll– it was a celebration of his weight loss and being able to do new things. Ahead of the event, Jelly Roll shared with the What’s Your Story? Podcast hosted by Steph McMahon, in which he revealed that he would be under 300 pounds for the first time in decades for his SummerSlam appearance.
“I got fat like really, really young. I was over 300 pounds coming out of middle school. I am going to be under 300 lbs for the first time since middle school, the night I walk to that ring at SummerSlam.”
A truly incredible milestone for Jelly Roll to have hit before this special WWE appearance. But Jelly Roll was not just paying homage during his performance to his lost pounds; he also tipped his hat to the late, great Toby Keith.
Jelly Roll walked out to Keith’s hit song “Who’s Your Daddy?,” hyping up the crowd before he set foot in the ring. Jelly Roll’s wife shared the walkout on her social media, noting how fun it was for her to see her husband live out his childhood dreams.
@ohheyitsbunnie #jellyandbunnie ♬ Who’s Your Daddy? – Toby Keith
While Jelly Roll might have picked “Who’s Your Daddy?”, playing into the fact he was hoping to beat down on his opponents, or even playing into his weight loss journey, showing all the haters that he did it and is living out his dreams, this choice of song seems more personal than that. Jelly Roll is a big fan of Toby Keith. He brought the crowd at the Toby Keith tribute concert to tears last year with his rendition of “My List” and has visited Keith’s OK Kids Korral to see the incredible work he’s doing to help families and children facing cancer.
However, he is also paying homage to Toby Keith’s time in the wrestling ring with this song choice. Yes, folks, you read that right. If you didn’t know, Toby Keith had a country music crossover with pro wrestling in 2002. Toby Keith was a part of the first-ever match held by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, also known as TNA. He was initially just billed as a performer of the event. That, though, was short-lived, when Toby Keith had to get more involved after pro wrestler Jeff Jarrett interrupted Keith’s performance of “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American).”
Got to love the theatrics of professional wrestling.
@tna_wrestling Who remembers this CLASSIC moment featuring #tobykeith & #jeffjarrett WAY back in #2002! #impactwrestling #tnawrestling ♬ original sound – TNA Wrestling
This moment after his performance opened the doors for Keith to step into the ring later that evening. Toby Keith returned for the Gauntlet for the Gold match and got his revenge by hitting Jeff Jarrett, showing him who the Big Dog Daddy really is.
Toby Keith and wrestler Scott Hall then joined together to throw Jarrett out of the ring, making this quite a memorable pro wrestling debut for Toby Keith.
Regardless of Jelly Roll’s reasoning for choosing “Who’s Your Daddy?” as his walkout song, it reminds country music fans of Toby Keith and his legacy in the genre, both within and beyond country music. I’m sure the Big Dog Daddy was looking down and cheering on Jelly Roll throughout his SummerSlam appearance.
Before you go, fire up Jelly Roll’s emotional performance of “My List.”
