As you all know by now, Pat McAfee made a surprise appearance on Friday night’s episode of SmackDown, launching an attack on Cody Rhodes and revealing himself because the mystery voice on the phone with Randy Orton.
The decision reportedly got here from TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, who has long been high on McAfee — particularly for his crossover appeal within the entertainment world. Despite reports on the contrary, Triple H stays firmly in command of WWE’s week-to-week creative direction and the majority of the show’s presentation.
The move was said to be driven by a desire to spice up interest within the product, in addition to create “corporate synergy” between WWE and ESPN. Nevertheless, Fightful Select is reporting that not everyone internally supported the direction — particularly the “this place sucks” promo angle, which some feel rarely lands effectively in wrestling.
A later promo from Cody Rhodes was reportedly delivered more loosely. The promo was intended to be “from the hip.” While it’s unclear if it was fully unscripted, the segment was not listed on the corporate’s internal run sheet.
Internally, the response was described as mixed. While some viewed the strong online response as effective “heat,” others believed that it wasn’t the form of response the corporate ought to be aiming for.
Sources had previously indicated that McAfee was expected to factor into WWE’s plans, despite his public denial of an imminent return.
As you’d expect, McAfee is ready to be involved in upcoming programming heading into WrestleMania 42.
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