Pat McAfee Leaves Pro Wrestling After Randy Orton Loses At WWE WrestleMania 42

Pat McAfee has officially announced that he is done with professional wrestling after Randy Orton failed to win the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 42.

"Though the mission was supposed to be Randy Orton saving the business, what happened instead is Cody Rhodes proved he is the one. The good news is the business doesn't need to be saved after all. Good for them. For me, I finished my story. I came up on the indies. IWA East Coast. I went through development, NXT. I was a wrestler, trained by Rip Rogers. Get to WWE, commentator, pre-shows, wrestled, reffed, managed. Lucky to do all of that. It's been a hell of a run. Thank you wrestling," McAfee said on his show on Monday.

McAfee promised ahead of WrestleMania 42 that he would leave pro wrestling if Randy Orton did not defeat Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Title in the main event of WrestleMania night one.

McAfee was in Orton's corner for the WrestleMania match, receiving a Cross Rhodes from Cody and being put through the announce table with an Elbow Drop from Jelly Roll before the match got underway. McAfee was stretchered out, but he later returned in a referee shirt and a neck brace, but his count following an RKO failed to record the winning pinfall for Orton. Randy then RKO'd McAfee just seconds before Cody hit Orton with a Cross Rhodes for the win.

McAfee's insertion into the Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton WrestleMania programme was criticised by WWE talents and fans, with it being revealed the booking decision was made by TKO CEO Ari Emanuel above the WWE creative team.

At the time of Pat McAfee's unveiling as Randy Orton's mystery caller, the plan was for Orton to win the Undisputed WWE Title at WrestleMania 42. Those plans were ultimately changed ahead of WWE's biggest weekend of the year, however.

H/T Fightful