Summary

Cody Rhodes answered Pat McAfee's attack later in the April 3 edition of SmackDown by mocking the reveal that McAfee had been Randy Orton's mystery phone contact.

Back in the ring after the earlier confrontation, Rhodes compared the reveal to the original nWo angle and said it landed more like Disco Inferno replacing Hulk Hogan as the third man. The line came after Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton and Pat McAfee drove a chaotic April 3 WWE SmackDown, with McAfee emerging as Orton's ally in the WrestleMania 42 build.

The remark also pulled an old wrestling argument back into view. Rhodes and Disco Inferno, Glenn Gilbertti, had a viral social media exchange in 2018 after Gilbertti criticized the style of modern wrestling.

Cody Rhodes and Pat McAfee just gave the Orton feud another layer

Rhodes used the promo to do more than fire back at McAfee. By tying the reveal to one of wrestling's most famous turns, he framed Orton's big surprise as a letdown and kept control of the segment after being embarrassed earlier in the night.

It also adds another personal note to the Cody-Orton program heading into WrestleMania 42. McAfee is no longer just a shock reveal, and Rhodes answered him in a way that pulled in both wrestling history and his own past issues with Disco Inferno.

Quote from Cody Rhodes

"We got all dressed up in St. Louis tonight to find out who Randy Orton was talking to on the phone. And color me surprised, it was Pat McAfee. That's like if Scott Hall and Kevin Nash talked about the third man in the nWo, and instead of Hulk Hogan, it was Disco Inferno."

Rhodes then turned his attention toward WWE management and kept the tone confrontational.

"Oh no, was that too far? What are you gonna do, fire me? It sure worked out for you the last time... I am hearing those voices inside my head, finally. But you don't wanna hear what they have to say!"

The Disco Inferno callback

The Disco Inferno mention appeared to reference Rhodes' 2018 social media back-and-forth with Gilbertti. At the time, Gilbertti wrote that nobody knew how to "work" anymore and said wrestlers would rather hurt each other to get praise for their matches.

Rhodes answered with a blistering response of his own, saying Gilbertti had "drawn 0 dollars" and had coasted through his era on other people's success.

Sources

As reported by NoDQ.