Backstage Reaction To Pat McAfee Heel Turn Angle Revealed

Friday Night SmackDown featured a widely critiqued segment in which Pat McAfee was revealed as Randy Orton’s mystery caller, turning heel in an attack on Cody Rhodes. There was immediate widespread dislike for the angle, which even prompted WWE to send Rhodes out later in the night in an unscripted promo to shoot on the angle after it was revealed that TKO were the key decision makers behind the creative direction, rather than WWE’s creative team. 

When it comes to the wider response within WWE, it was noted by BodySlam+ that the reaction was mixed. There were some who were of the impression that the reaction to the segment was simply “heat”, whereas there were others internally who did not feel as though it was the correct sort of heat, and not what the company needed. 

It was explained that WWE were well aware of the online reaction, which is why the decision was made to send out Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes later in the evening to cut a shoot promo on TKO. This promo was used to showcase the backstage frustration with TKO’s storyline influence.