The next contest is… one of the strangest contests we’ve seen in professional wrestling in a while.
We’re just a few weeks away from WrestleMania 42, and a surprise participant has inserted himself into the event in Las Vegas — and I’m only speaking tangentially about Pat McAfee, the former NFL player turned podcaster and part-time Monday Night Raw Commentator.
On Friday night smack downthe secret advisor status of longtime WWE Superstar Randy Orton More than that It is revealed that the voices in his head are none other than McAfee for some reason. For many fans, it looked like they were out on the field, to borrow a metaphor from a legitimate sports competition. Orton and McAfee don’t seem to share any particularly meaningful relationship, nor do they generally work on the same WWE show. In wrestling parlance, McAfee wasn’t even a heel until it was revealed – a role – that he was working RawBabyface announcer. But McAfee is the (story) directing Orton’s evil attempt to eliminate undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, the company’s biggest face, in the (first) main event of WrestleMania 42.
According to promotional materials, McAfee will be in Orton’s corner on Saturday, April 18. (WrestleMania 42 both continues and concludes the following night.) Consider Rhodes upset.
In a scathing promo on USA Network, Rhodes described McAfee as a “petrified, hustler, Logan Paul without muscles, fly-by-night human hatter,” almost all in one breath.
“You and everyone who represents you, and I know who I’m talking to, you can kiss my ass,” Rhodes added. “Oh no, was that too far? What are you going to do, kick me out? It sure worked out for you last time!”
Speaking of talents that WWE fired and later brought back, CM Punk.
Although World Heavyweight Champion Punk, located in Raw The list, unrelated to the Rhodes-Orton match, also objected to McAfee’s sudden and unexpected participation.
Monday RawWWE’s flagship weekly show now on Netflix, Punk called McAfee “Pat MAGA-Fee”, a reference to McAfee’s perceived political leanings. (McAfee says he is apolitical, but he also has a relationship with President Trump that included a November 2025 interview. Trump also personally approved McAfee’s request to do a podcast from the South Lawn of the White House.)
“You’re armed with a bullwhip, you’ve got no brains,” Punk said of McAfee. “Do you think you can come here to work? practical – From professional wrestling – And you run your mouth? Well, I just wrote a check that your tight ass can’t cash.”
McAfee, in character, described the current state of the competition as unwatchable, which he blamed on poor WrestleMania ticket sales. McAfee said Orton is the only man who can save the company. (This was after McAfee kicked Rhodes in the balls, and before Rhodes returned to attack McAfee and his representatives.)
“Do you want to talk about ticket sales?” The villain continued. “Do me a favor. Call that agent who was foolish enough to get you into this business and this show and ask him to lower the ticket prices.”
McAfee retired from the NFL in 2017 and signed with WWE in 2019. He made his debut as a wrestler in 2020.
It appears that both Punk and Rhodes were referring to McAfee’s agent Ari Emanuel. February Bloomberg The report stated that Emanuel is “trying to turn Pat McAfee into the next Sylvester Stallone,” which appropriately includes a four-episode arc on Tulsa Kinga Taylor Sheridan show that stars (the real) Stallone. It’s a two-way relationship: McAfee produces Emanuel’s podcast; Rushmore.
Emanuel isn’t just a super agent — one who can turn a kickoff specialist into a major action star — these days. He is the president of TKO, the publicly traded company formed by the merger of WWE with the UFC in 2023. Forget The Rock in 2024, Emanuel is the true “final boss” here.
Hollywood Reporter She attempted to reach Emanuel, but did not receive an immediate response from TKO Communications.
The slow sales of tickets for WrestleMania 42 (so far) have been a concern, mainly due to the high prices. WrestleTix data shows that the box office was down about 19 percent compared to WrestleMania 41, which was also held in Vegas.
At the risk of being labeled a “tag” (a derogatory term for buying pro wrestling stories), the conspiracy theory here, promoted by Rhodes and Punk, is that Emanuel pushed WWE to get creative to include McAfee in the WrestleMania main event by any means necessary. This is the opinion of Simon Miller, pro wrestling analyst for WhatCulture.com and a UK independent professional wrestler.
“I think it really comes down to Ari wanting Pat to be on TV because he thinks he would be a good character, and [Ari] “He wants celebrities to participate in one of the main events,” Miller said. THR. “I can see WWE creative saying, ‘We can’t put a celebrity against CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns… CM Punk in particular is going to say, ‘Fuck it.'”
This definitely sounds like Punk. He will defend his belt against Reigns in the main event on Sunday, April 19.
At this point, in almost any pro wrestling story, the writer needs to acknowledge that he or she understands that pro wrestling is (mostly) scripted and that the outcome of the match is predetermined. This could all simply be WWE’s original creative plan; Cody Rhodes (real name Cody Runnels) and CM Punk (real name Phil Brooks) are two characters after all. Or perhaps some of the company’s top spokespeople are out of legitimate frustration over what they believe is an undeserved batch of claims. In wrestling, truth is usually a bit of both.
