Report: WWE Creative Told Cody Rhodes To Shoot On TKO In Promo

Pat McAfee heel turn on SmackDown sparked widespread criticism online almost immediately, resulting in a lot of fast reports emerging regarding the decision-making behind McAfee joining the main event angle between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes ahead of WrestleMania 42. Some details have emerged regarding Rhodes’ segment later in the night, with some talk suggesting that his promo was a shoot. 

It emerged that the decision to include McAfee reportedly came from TKO’s Ari Emanuel in an attempt to boost WrestleMania ticket sales and increase synergy between WWE and ESPN, though the angle was the subject to scorn. BodySlam+ have reported that WWE’s creative team told Cody Rhodes to go out on SmackDown later in the night to “shoot from the hip” against TKO. In doing so, Rhodes stripped back the curtain and compared the reveal of McAfee being Orton’s mystery caller to being like if the nWo third man was Disco Inferno rather than Hulk Hogan. 

Some of this stemmed from the fact that McAfee’s promo was reportedly unscripted too, per another BodySlam report. Rhodes’ promo is said to have not been internally listed on the SmackDown rundown as it was instead booked on the fly following the social media response to the reveal. It is said that WWE’s creative team have legitimate gripes with TKO’s tendency to influence storylines on the road to WrestleMania, and Rhodes’ promo was used to take a shot back at ownership in this segment.