Summary

Cody Rhodes did not pretend otherwise when asked about the Pat McAfee twist in his WrestleMania 42 program with Randy Orton.

Speaking during a recent interview, the WWE Champion said the angle has landed poorly with fans across the board, calling it one of the worst-received ideas he can remember in wrestling. Even so, Rhodes said he is not panicking about the direction because his main focus remains the match with Orton.

That reaction comes after the April 10 SmackDown lineup that featured Rhodes, Orton and McAfee helped keep the story moving toward WrestleMania 42.

Quote from Cody Rhodes

"This is the most ill-received thing in the history of wrestling. The Gobbledygooker was one, Shockmaster was up there, but that was kind of funny. This is the entire fandom, your fandom, my fandom, independent wrestling fans, casual fans, cinema fans, everyone."

"Every single fan who has ever watched wrestling has received this with, 'Huh? What?'"

"Okay, so maybe it's the worst-received thing in the history of wrestling, but I want to say something on the bright side, because I try to be an optimist."

"On the bright side, Pat McAfee is a huge star. He's one of the faces, if not the face, of ESPN. His College GameDay stuff is legendary, he's a great athlete, and he loves wrestling. He's just trying to help our party out, so I respect him and I respect that."

"On the other side of it, I'm attuned to the audience, not just the online audience, but all of it. I think one time I made a mistake saying every wrestler looks right at their phone, I didn't mean immediately, but we all see it."

"I look at that and ask myself, kind of like when I was doing Stardust or when I was getting thrown a bone here and there on my way up, I look at it and ask, how can we make this something?"

"And why I'm not worried about it at all is because Randy Orton is the guy I'm wrestling."

What this means for Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton

Rhodes openly acknowledging the backlash puts even more attention on the actual WrestleMania 42 match with Orton. If fans are not buying into McAfee's part of the build, WWE now has even more reason to make Rhodes vs. Orton feel like the centerpiece of the feud once the bell rings.

It also says a lot that Rhodes framed Orton as the stabilizing force in the story. That keeps the heat on the championship match itself, rather than letting the outside involvement become the main thing people remember from the build.

Sources

Cody Rhodes on SI Media With Jimmy Traina