Sorry, Jelly Roll: WWE SummerSlam showed yet again why we shouldn't write off celebrity crossovers prematurely

Yahoo

2 hours ago

Seth Rollins may have delivered the swerve of the night in New Jersey, but there was one other spot Saturday at WWE SummerSlam Night 1 which shocked us on the Uncrowned desk: The moment when first-time WWE competitor Jelly Roll was smashed through the announcer table following a leapfrog splash from Logan Paul.
'That was probably the biggest celebrity bump we have ever seen,' was the immediate takeaway from our own Anthony Sulla-Heffinger, and I don't think you'll find anyone to argue with that. Indeed it may very well have been the most high-adrenaline spot of the whole three-and-a-half hour show. Not bad for a man who only started wrestling training this year.
If you spend any time on social media, you'll know that WWE takes a bit of flak for these celebrity cameos. For a certain type of purist, these kinds of publicity moves are the antithesis of what they think pro-wrestling should be — even if the WWE has now repeatedly shown that it can turn celebrities (at least some of them) into credible sports entertainers.
You don't have to be a sports media analyst to see why WWE is so keen to work with these celebrities in the first place. When Bad Bunny first appeared at WrestleMania 37, Nick Khan claimed WWE saw a 30% jump in its Spanish-speaking viewership — and that was before Bunny's famous street fight at Backlash, which rightly was regarded as one of the matches of the year.
The social media explosion has only provided more metrics for the likes of Nick Khan to get excited. Let's not forget that the clip of IShowSpeed being speared by Bron Breakker — the one that nearly broke the influencer in half — in this year's Royal Rumble generated more than 300 million views on X alone. If the price of getting that many eyes on the product is irritating a few older fans, you can see why WWE doesn't care about the latter.
Of course, these celebrity crossovers aren't exactly risk-free. Earlier this year, we saw WWE bet big on Travis Scott, even making him the pivotal player in the WrestleMania 41 finale — a creative plan that was shot down by pretty much every wrestling pundit within minutes of its execution. As with a lot of things in wrestling, there is only so far you can go with the crowd against you. Now the reports are that WWE and Travis Scott have fallen out (even if he remains a close contact of TKO supremo Ari Emanuel), bringing his involvement to an unceremonious end.
Likewise, Jelly Roll's first cameo — back at SummerSlam 2024 — drew some justified criticism for the way in which he effortlessly demolished two full-time wrestlers, thus potentially undermining the craft in the eyes of the casual viewer. But last night showed that WWE has learned its lesson on that front. (Though, arguably, they are still massively under-booking Austin Theory and Grayson Waller…)
Sure, Jelly Roll might not quite have the prodigious talent of Bad Bunny and Logan Paul — surely WWE's most successful celebrity crossovers — but it was clear Saturday that he's been putting in the work on his training. That allowed WWE to script a plausible tag match around his involvement, and to set up that incredible table spot. Don't be surprised if we see him returning to the ring again before long, particularly given the unexpected finish.
That's a very different ballgame to Cardi B, whose involvement as host was much smaller than expected. There had been whispers she might be involved somehow in the Jade Cargill match — perhaps with the two of them holding up the belt to celebrate at the end — but those went out of the window when Tiffany Stratton scored her surprise win. By the mid-point of the show, you could have forgotten she was even there.
It isn't like WWE won't be smiling either way. For those unaware, the rapper currently boasts some 164 million followers on Instagram and 286 million likes on TikTok. By comparison, Roman Reigns and Rhea Ripley have Instagram followings of 10 million and 6 million respectively (though The Rock dwarfs all of them together with 393 million).
Those kinds of numbers aren't just translating to more views for WWE's product, it's also adding ammunition to WWE's own marketing pitch, particularly when it comes to getting host cities to pay for events. We know from their WrestleMania pitch-deck that they make a big deal of their social media viewership.
'It's incredible, the amount of [famous] people that want to be involved,' said Triple H, speaking on a podcast earlier this year. Then again, it isn't like the enthusiasm only flows one way, given the treatment that WWE happily dishes out to its preferred celebrity partners. The rapper Breland apparently had his own private dressing room in return for a brief crowd cutaway shot at Saturday night's show.
When you hear stuff like that, it's easy to be cynical, particularly when you factor in how few actual WWE signees would ever be awarded the same treatment. But last night's table splash spot reminded even us more cantankerous fans that we shouldn't write off these celebrity crossovers entirely.
If the celebrities and influencers are willing to take bumps like that and get SummerSlam promoted on "The Jimmy Kimmel Show"? Well, then we might just have a reason to be excited next time Nick Khan gets another A-lister in his sights for a future stadium show.