Posted on 4/05/126 by Colin Vassallo
PWInsider.com is reporting that the Cody Rhodes segment on
Smackdown where he came out to vent after his beatdown from
Randy Orton and Pat McAfee was not originally part of the
show and served as some sort of a “complaint” about the
creative direction heading into WrestleMania.
Multiple sources added that the addition of Pat McAfee and
his subsequent reveal as Randy Orton’s mystery caller came
directly from the very top of the TKO hierarchy, most
specifically the big boss himself, Ari Emanuel. The WWE
creative team, headed up by Paul “Triple H” Levesque, were
not part of the decision-making process of adding McAfee
into the program.
This is the second time in a row that TKO chiefs have forced
a celebrity into a feud at WrestleMania. Last year, Travis
Scott was added to the mix in the Cody Rhodes and John Cena
feud after a push from the TKO board and Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson. The move ultimately did not pay off after Scott was
not committed to continue the angle after Mania.
PWInsider adds that Rhodes was told to go out and “shoot”
with no script handed to him. Rhodes came up with the line
of comparing McAfee’s reveal to what if Nash and Hall
revealed Disco Inferno as the nWo’s third man.
While McAfee is loved by the WWE crew, the popular
broadcaster has no connection whatsoever to either Orton or
Rhodes and his addition was simply seen as a marketing
stunt.