Summary

Mark Henry believes the Pat McAfee reveal on the April 3 episode of WWE SmackDown gave the Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes story a stronger WrestleMania 42 hook.

McAfee was revealed as Orton's mystery phone caller after he attacked Rhodes, and Henry said that twist brought a tougher edge to the program. His comments also arrive after recent reporting on TKO backing McAfee's alliance with Orton, which has made the angle feel even more central to WWE's WrestleMania build.

Quote from Mark Henry

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Henry said:

"Nobody expected Pat McAfee to be the one telling Randy, 'take over.' A lot of the hardcore old school wrestling guys, they keep saying stuff like, 'I used to watch back in the Attitude Era. I used to watch when guys looked like they would just beat you up just for looking at them. The days of big, burly, middle-aged men wrestling is over. That's why our business is soft now.'"

Henry later went on to say:

"That's what Pat McAfee is saying. 'I want to bring back that part of wrestling, the toughness, the aggressiveness. We're a little too PG.' That's what Pat McAfee is saying. He wants to help change it.

I want change. I love the fact that there's somebody else that wants change. And sometimes in order to have change, you got to ruffle a few feathers. And so far it looked like everybody's feathers are a little bit ruffled. What Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes are heading towards is going to be Attitude Era-esque.

I'm excited. I'm excited for WrestleMania even more than I already was."

Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, and the WrestleMania 42 build

Henry's reaction matters because it frames the McAfee reveal as more than a one-night surprise. In his view, WWE used McAfee's involvement to give the Orton and Rhodes program a more aggressive tone heading into WrestleMania 42.

That does not confirm exactly where the story goes next, but it does show how the segment was designed to make the feud feel hotter at the final stretch of the build. When a Hall of Famer is pointing to attitude and aggression as the selling points, it underlines that WWE wants this angle to land as a major part of the WrestleMania conversation.

Sources

As reported by NoDQ.