One of the biggest criticism WWE faced headed into WrestleMania 42 was the involvement of Pat McAfee. Despite Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton having a ton of history, McAfee was added to their feud. While it was revealed that this was TKO’s choice, fans were not happy. However, on Night #1 of WrestleMania 42, Orton turned on McAfee, effectively ending the storyline.
Pat McAfee Opted Out?
On the latest edition of the “Wrestling Observer Radio,” it was revealed, “The Pat McAfee thing, he opted out. That’s what actually led to everything changing. That’s why the tag match from Backlash was taken off… The thing is that both of them (Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll) were very cognizant of what has been said about celebrities in wrestling.”
“Both of them love wrestling and I think that they realized that there was a lot of negative sentiment about it… I don’t know the exact reason McAfee pulled out. There could have been many different reasons, but the reason that was believed was, in fact, the reaction.”
“I was told that the belief was it was due to the reaction that he pulled out. It wasn’t like anything else. There’s a lot, a lot of chaos that was going on, especially on Saturday, for WrestleMania.”
Jelly Roll’s Message To McAfee After WWE WrestleMania 42
After WrestleMania 42, Jelly Roll, who was also involved in the feud said,
“I tell you what, there going to be a picture of me somewhere levitating over Pat McAfee and it’s **** it, I’m going to have to frame it. We I had one goal tonight and uh I kind of succeeded. Pat, I love you, man. Neither one of us had any business here. I say we get back to what we’re good at, man. Even though I’m not actually really good at anything, but you’re great at something, so go do it. I’ll keep searching for what I’m going to do when I grow up.”