Backstage Update on Pat McAfee’s Inclusion Into Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton Storyline Feud for WrestleMania 42

As noted before, this past Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in St. Louis, Missouri featured Pat McAfee making a surprise return to WWE and turning heel on Cody Rhodes. McAfee’s surprise return and involvement in the Randy Orton and Rhodes’ storyline feud for the Undisputed WWE Championship was believed to have been an edict that came from TKO Group and possibly TKO CEO Ari Emanuel. McAfee’s involvement was also believed to have been done to boost interest in the show and also for “corporate synergy” between WWE and ESPN.

Dave Meltzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that his sources stated that McAfee was the “first choice” for the spot and the decision was confirmed to have came directly from TKO CEO Ari Emanual, who is also McAfee’s agent.

Meltzer reported that McAfee had turned down the offer at first before accepting a deal for it. WWE officials reportedly had “scrambled” to find someone else for the role before McAfee relented and accepted.

Meltzer also reported that McAfee’s involvement was not a WWE creative nor WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque move and there were a lot of people within WWE who were not happy about it at all. One person spoken to reportedly stated that this was the single most counterproductive thing the company has gone in a long time.