New details have emerged regarding the return of Pat McAfee to WWE and how it actually nearly didn’t end up happening.
As has been well documented over the past few days, McAfee’s return to be part of the build up to WrestleMania was something that was headed up by Endeavor and TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, with people within WWE not happy about the decision.
However, it emerged earlier today that at one point, it seemed like McAfee’s plans had actually fallen through and WWE was going to have to “scramble” to find someone else to put in the spot of being Randy Orton’s new ally.
WWE ‘Scrambling’ For Pat McAfee Replacement
More details on that have now emerged from Bryan Alvarez who reported on Wrestling Observer Live:
“(Last week) I said, ‘They had an idea for somebody, but it fell through.’ And if it had been this person, we would have all been like, ‘What?’
“So, that person was Pat McAfee. I didn’t know it was gonna end up Pat McAfee, because what I had been told was, they wanted McAfee but they couldn’t come to an agreement.
“And I was like, ‘Pat McAfee? What?’ And Lance (Storm) can confirm because I did tell him off the air – the story was they wanted McAfee, but when I told the story I thought they were gonna scramble to get somebody else.
“And I think everybody that heard the show thought, ‘They must have scrambled to get someone else and came up with McAfee.’
“No – McAfee was the guy they wanted. They wanted Pat McAfee.
“The ‘Why?’ is that Ari Emanuel apparently thought, ‘You know what will drum up business for WrestleMania? If we get a famous guy with a big platform to get involved.’ And so he came up with the idea for Pat McAfee.
“The story is this was not a Triple H call. Most everybody in the entire company – certainly everybody I heard from – was like, ‘What is this? This is stupid. It doesn’t make any sense.’
“This was something, it’s a little bit like that Rock thing when John Cena turned heel. Somebody higher up decided, ‘I’ve got an idea and it’s gonna happen, and this is what it is.'”
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Assessing Pat McAfee As Randy Orton’s Ally
When Randy Orton was on the phone to a mystery person for a few weeks, Pat McAfee wasn’t exactly a leading name in terms of predictions for who it could be.
That’s because he and Randy Orton have no prior affiliation and this whole alliance has come out of nowhere – which is one of the reasons it’s been criticized so heavily.
However, there certainly could have been worse choices, and no doubt all the attention the story has received over the past few days will be viewed as a positive by TKO management and maybe even WWE management too.
Ultimately, the goal is to drive more interest and ticket sales for WrestleMania, so whether it ends up being a success remains to be seen.
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