We asked the question ourselves last Friday when the match was announced on SmackDown…
The main answer people seem to have come up with in the week since is CM Punk. Online gambling sites* have Punk as the favorite, with Joe Hendry having the best odds of the underdogs, followed by AAA’s Mr. Iguana, and Jelly Roll.
Jelly Roll? Well, internet fans know Punk is close with Donovan Danhausen outside of the pro wrestling business, but he hasn’t interacted with the Very Nice, Very Evil version of his friend
on WWE television to date. The country music star who unsuccessfully took out Pat McAfee in a last minute effort to salvage the WrestleMania 42 main event from TKO’s meddling Pat McAfee last month, however? On the road to Wrestle’Mania, he was working with the two men Danhausen is facing tomorrow (May 9)…
That program started with Danhausen cursing Miz before a “Miz TV” segment with Jelly Roll went sideways. And hey, Roll’s proven he knows Danhausen when he sees him backstage, too.
Plus, word was Roll was supposed to work a Backlash tag match with Cody Rhodes against Randy Orton and McAfee before Pat bowed out because no one liked his involvement in ‘Mania realized WWE didn’t need to be saved. So the not-as-big-as-he-used-to-be big man could just be fulfilling a contractual obligation tomorrow night in Tampa, Florida.
When I remembered all that, Roll’s odds and this Bryan Alvarez rumor from his subscription-required X account clicked for yours truly:
I can’t confirm this but I am hearing speculation that the mystery partner for Danhausen is, in fact, Jelly Roll, which would make a LOT more sense than an unadvertised PLE appearance by CM Punk.
So, yeah, I buy it. Question is, do you? Let us know in the comments, and join us tomorrow for complete Backlash coverage!
* For pro wrestling, they kinda feel more like prediction markets.












