We’re less than two weeks away from WrestleMania, and things are not going as planned over at WWE. Thanks to lukewarm creative, soaring ticket prices and the curious decision to hold ‘Mania for a second consecutive year in Las Vegas, the annual mega-event is tracking well behind expectations. In an apparent effort to generate some mainstream press, ESPN talking head Pat McAfee was recently inserted as a key character in the main event storyline, and two of WWE’s biggest stars are so unhappy they seemingly went off script to bash the decision on live television.
WrestleMania is a two night event, and the main event of the first night is heavily rumored to be Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. Rhodes has essentially been the main character of WWE programming for the last three years or so, and he’s had a close real life and onscreen storyline relationship with Orton for the better part of two decades. Fans have been pleading to see them work together for years, and while WWE has hinted at it periodically, they didn’t pull the trigger until several weeks ago, when they were announced as WrestleMania opponents.
Unfortunately, the initial few interactions between Orton and Rhodes were widely criticized for being underwhelming, and they seemingly did little to improve ticket sales for ‘Mania. Fans on social media widely called for WWE to lean harder into the long storyline history between the two, but instead, we got the exact opposite.
Article continues belowOn SmackDown this past Friday, former NFL player turned media superstar Pat McAfee, who has also served as a WWE commentator, showed up and attacked Rhodes. He then gave a rambling promo alongside Randy Orton criticizing the product for not being as good as the late 90s, early 00s Attitude Era with The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin and accused Rhodes of being the reason why fans were down on everything.
The promo received a very confused and uneven reaction from the attendees in the arena (I was there), and the response from wrestling fans on social media was almost universally negative. There was widespread confusion about why McAfee was being inserted into the story and even more confusion about why, two weeks out from WrestleMania, the whole storyline seemingly shifted to be about wrestling being worse than it was thirty years ago.
In recent days, reports from wrestling media have swirled that McAfee’s inclusion was an order from WWE’s parent company TKO, whose CEO, Ari Emanuel, just so happens to be the sports commentator’s agent. Rumors followed that he may have gone off script with his promo, and it’s quite clear based on the reaction that not everyone was a fan of what happened in the dressing room. Rhodes, in fact, went to the ring later that night and gave what is being described as an impromptu promo that was not on the original rundown. He criticized McAfee’s inclusion and heavily hinted that TKO was responsible. Here’s a portion of what he said…
Pat, you and everyone who represents you, and I know who I’m talking to, can kiss my ass. Oh no, was that too far? What are you going to do? Fire me?
Possible bad blood between those running WWE and those running TKO was a major topic of conversation amongst wrestling fans over the weekend, but there was still some doubt as to how much was real and how much was trying to manufacture intrigue for ‘Mania. The wrestling business is a huge fan of blurring the lines between fiction and reality, and it’s not exactly like Rhodes went out there and called out by people by name, apart from McAfee who is fair game because he’s the onscreen adversary in the storyline.
Last night on Monday Night Raw, however, CM Punk, who is likely main eventing the other night of WrestleMania alongside Roman Reigns, got a segment with a live microphone, and he threw gasoline all over the fire. He called The Rock, who sits on the Board Of Directors for TKO, washed up. He called Pat McAfee a “hillbilly” and “Pat MAGAfee” and absolutely went off in a scathing promo that once again referred to his agent aka TKO CEO Ari Emanuel.
You wanna talk about ticket sales? Do me a favor. Call up that agent who was foolish enough to shorehorn you into this business and this show and tell him to lower the ticket prices. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna have you, somebody who kicked a football for a living, come to my business and talk to me about selling tickets and putting asses in seats. You’ve got a receipt coming to you. Lower the ticket prices!
Once again, exactly what was in the script here and what was not is a big question mark. WWE posted a video of most of CM Punk’s promo on its social media pages, but it’s worth noting that they cut it off before he called TKO out about the ticket prices. My guess would be that the company isn’t too happy about him going there, but considering this is probably the most invested fans have been in the product in months, that might be okay with it.
I’m certainly okay with it. After the McAfee program, which once again I was in the building for, I was probably at my lowest point as a wrestling fan in years. Now, I’m very emotionally invested and ready to see where this mess is going.
TKO has seemingly meedled in WWE affairs in a big way on two previous occasions. The first time (The Rock’s return) led to fan backlash, which then produced the absolutely epic Final Boss storyline with The Rock, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40 that everyone loved. The second time (the John Cena/ The Rock/ Travis Scott stuff) led to fan backlash, which then produced maybe the worst ‘Mania main event in history at WrestleMania 41. I’m nervous and fascinated and can't look away.
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