Randy Orton Was Reportedly Planned To Win WWE Title Before Pat McAfee Opted Out
Randy Orton was originally set to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 42.
Night One of WrestleMania 42 on April 18 saw Cody Rhodes successfully defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton in the show’s main event. The bout saw both Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll get involved in the action, and it now appears that backlash towards the celebrity involvement led to a planned title change being scrapped.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Randy Orton was originally scheduled to defeat Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 42, although plans changed after Pat McAfee requested to pull out of the angle following heavy criticism from both fans and the locker room.
“Orton was scheduled to beat Rhodes for the title, likely with McAfee’s help, to set up Orton & McAfee vs. Rhodes & Jelly Roll at Backlash. However, McAfee asked to end his run and later said he was out of wrestling forever after the show. I don’t know if he gave a reason but the belief in WWE was that he didn’t like the negativity of the fans, not the heel heat, but the negativity, plus even worse, the negativity of the angle from so much of the talent. It wasn’t negativity on McAfee personally, but so much of the talent didn’t like the angle, felt that Rhodes vs. Orton had a strong storyline dating back to Orton being Rhodes’ mentor, and that McAfee and Jelly Roll being involved took away from the stronger story.”
-Dave Meltzer
After being taken out of action by Jelly Roll at the beginning of the bout, Pat McAfee re-emerged in the closing stretch wearing a referee shirt to count a pinfall. Randy Orton later hit McAfee with an RKO before Cody Rhodes secured the victory.
Randy Orton attacked Cody Rhodes following the match and delivered a punt kick to the Undisputed WWE Championship, suggesting the rivalry is far from over. However, it now appears highly unlikely that WWE will move ahead with the planned tag team match pitting Rhodes and Jelly Roll against Orton and Pat McAfee at WWE Backlash on May 9.
Pat McAfee was not the only celebrity to take note of their involvement at WrestleMania 42, with Jelly Roll stating that both he and Pat McAfee did not have any business being involved in the main event. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the original plan for WrestleMania 42 and beyond involving Cody Rhodes, Jelly Roll, Randy Orton, and Pat McAfee as soon as we hear more.
