PWInsider.com is reporting that the Cody Rhodes segment on Smackdown where he came out to vent after his beatdown from Randy Orton and Pat McAfee was not originally part of the show and served as some sort of a “complaint” about the creative direction heading into WrestleMania.
Multiple sources added that the addition of Pat McAfee and his subsequent reveal as Randy Orton’s mystery caller came directly from the very top of the TKO hierarchy, most specifically the big boss himself, Ari Emanuel. The WWE creative team, headed up by Paul “Triple H” Levesque, were not part of the decision-making process of adding McAfee into the program.
This is the second time in a row that TKO chiefs have forced a celebrity into a feud at WrestleMania. Last year, Travis Scott was added to the mix in the Cody Rhodes and John Cena feud after a push from the TKO board and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The move ultimately did not pay off after Scott was not committed to continue the angle after Mania.
PWInsider adds that Rhodes was told to go out and “shoot” with no script handed to him. Rhodes came up with the line of comparing McAfee’s reveal to what if Nash and Hall revealed Disco Inferno as the nWo’s third man.
While McAfee is loved by the WWE crew, the popular broadcaster has no connection whatsoever to either Orton or Rhodes and his addition was simply seen as a marketing stunt.
