Pat McAfee shocked fans on the April 3rd episode of SmackDown by attacking Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and revealing himself as the mystery person on the phone with Randy Orton.
While the move has caused a lot of debate online, the decision came from the very top of TKO. According to PWInsider, this wasn’t an idea from the regular WWE writing team. Instead, it was a direct order from TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, who is also McAfee’s agent.
Emanuel reportedly pushed for the move to create “corporate synergy” with ESPN and help sell more tickets for WrestleMania 42.
Despite rumors that he’s losing power, Triple H is still the one running the day-to-day creative for the rest of the show. He reportedly approved the McAfee move after the “edict” came down from TKO leadership.
In an update, Bodyslam reported that McAfee went completely off script during his promo and WWE officials were caught off guard by this. This resulted in WWE reacting quickly by making Cody send out an apology tweet and coming out later for a promo to address it. Cody’s promo wasn’t even listed on the show’s internal schedule. He was reportedly told to “shoot from the hip” to address the situation.
Fightful Select previously noted that many people within WWE weren’t fans of the “this place sucks” angle in McAfee’s promo, feeling those types of stories rarely work in wrestling. Some insiders called the online backlash “bad heat” that the company didn’t need right now.
Even though McAfee previously denied he was coming back, WWE sources say he is now a major part of the plans leading all the way through WrestleMania 42.
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