Jelly Roll & Cody Rhodes Vs. Pat McAfee & Randy Orton Planned For WWE Backlash 2026

The programme between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton over the Undisputed WWE Championship looks set to continue after WrestleMania 42, and they will clash in a tag team match in which half of the participants are not full-time wrestlers.

According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the plan as of when TKO CEO Ari Emanuel called Pat McAfee about being unveiled as Randy Orton's mystery caller was for McAfee to be in Orton's corner at WrestleMania and singer Jelly Roll to be in Cody Rhodes' corner.

As part of the deal for this, the plan was for Pat McAfee to team with Randy Orton against Jelly Roll and Cody Rhodes as one of the headline matches at Backlash 2026. As of press time for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that was still in play, according to Meltzer.

Backlash 2026 is scheduled to air from Tampa, Florida on May 9 and will be the first pay-per-view since WrestleMania 42.

WWE's unveiling of Pat McAfee as Randy Orton's mystery caller on the April 3 episode of SmackDown quickly received a backlash from fans, and the company's wrestlers reportedly weren't very happy about it either. WWE talents were said to have thrown their hands up, with their dissatisfaction being based on the belief that McAfee's insertion into the programme didn't make storyline sense and the history between Rhodes and Orton meant the feud didn't need an extra element.

Jelly Roll, meanwhile, has some history with Randy Orton on WWE TV stretching back to 2023, and they teamed together at SummerSlam 2025 in a losing effort to Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul. The singer has been involved in the Undisputed WWE Title programme between Rhodes and Orton as he has questioned why Randy turned heel.