Summary

A new report says Pat McAfee's critical comments about WWE business during the April 3 episode of SmackDown were not written by the creative team. The segment, which revealed McAfee as Randy Orton's mystery phone caller before he attacked WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, had already drawn a strong internal reaction and came after WWE reportedly reworks SmackDown plans after backlash to Pat McAfee reveal.

The report said the belief inside WWE is that McAfee's involvement in the storyline did not originate with the creative team or with Paul "Triple H" Levesque. Instead, the angle was widely believed to have stemmed from TKO executive Ari Emanuel.

It was also reported that McAfee's lines about WrestleMania ticket sales and low television ratings were not dictated by the writing staff. While creative had a writer assigned to the segment, the promo McAfee ultimately delivered was said to be different from what had been communicated to Levesque ahead of time.

How the Pat McAfee segment was handled backstage

According to the report, WWE kept the appearance tightly controlled internally. Talent were not broadly told about the plan, and McAfee was reportedly brought into the building late to prevent details from leaking.

The segment was assigned to Christian Sowell, which indicated that creative knew McAfee was part of the show. At the same time, the report said the material that aired did not fully match the version that had been relayed up the chain. WWE President Nick Khan was also said to be present during the process.

Quote from Dave Meltzer

"More than one person told us they thought it was very counterproductive with one calling it the most counterproductive thing in a long time."

What it means for Cody Rhodes and WWE creative

If Pat McAfee was given room to go beyond what WWE creative expected, that adds another layer to the Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton story heading into the next stretch of SmackDown. It suggests the company was not just dealing with backlash to the angle itself, but also with how a major segment around the WWE Championship picture was shaped behind the scenes.

It also puts more attention on how much influence Ari Emanuel and other top executives may have on crossover-driven story decisions. When a segment tied to Rhodes, Orton and McAfee lands this loudly, any disconnect between creative planning and final execution becomes part of the story too.

Sources

As reported by NoDQ.