Austin Theory Looks Back On Working With Grammy Nominee

Austin Theory is no stranger to physicality, as he wrestles on a weekly basis for WWE. In some instances, though, that physicality doesn't come from his in-ring colleagues, but rather personalities outside the wrestling world. At this year's WWE SummerSlam premium live event, Theory specifically found himself on the receiving end of a one-armed chokeslam from Grammy-nominated singer Jelly Roll — something Jelly Roll has previously cited as one of coolest things in his respective career. During a recent appearance on "Insight With Chris Van Vliet," Theory recounted the experience from his perspective.

"Everything [Jelly] did was awesome," Theory said. "I told him too, 'Man, grab me and just look around.' He even said that too, he's like 'No, I understand.' Obviously, you can understand it, but there's still a difference with how you do certain things and timing and stuff like that. I told him out there 'There's going to be that gear change where you're going to feel like whoa, the people are watching. I got to go a little faster.' I was like 'Man, when you grab me, the whole world stops. Just look around and when you look at me in the eyes, I'm going to be like let's ride and we're going to the sky. I will do everything, just hold on.'"

According to Theory, the WWE creative team initially wanted Jelly Roll to deliver a scoop slam on him. In his mind, however, Theory hated the idea, as he viewed it as a complicated move for a non-wrestler to execute. As such, Theory instead encouraged the idea of a chokeslam to WWE CCO Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

"In my mind, I was like 'Well, Jelly Roll is huge with his albums and his music and just as a person, a star. What is the move?' Well, there was ideas of the chokeslam and I was like 'Well that's it. It's the chokeslam.'"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight With Chris Van Vliet" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.