Cody Rhodes Addresses Backlash Over Pat McAfee’s WrestleMania 42 Involvement

Posted by admin on April 13th, 2026

Cody Rhodes has addressed the growing backlash surrounding Pat McAfee and his involvement in the WrestleMania 42 storyline with Randy Orton.

McAfee’s role in the program has drawn criticism from fans, with some questioning his connection to the long-running rivalry between Rhodes and Orton. Others have pointed to his recent appearance on WWE SmackDown, which some felt focused more on promoting ticket sales than building the Undisputed WWE Championship match.

Speaking on Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, Rhodes made it clear he is distancing himself from McAfee’s involvement.

“I’m just going to do the Mariah Carey answer moving forward on Pat McAfee. I don’t know him,” Rhodes said. “… Randy Orton, who I’m wrestling at WrestleMania, we have like almost two decades of history between each other. He was my mentor. I had [John] Cena, who I drove around. I had Randy, very different opinions, but also really helped shape me. We were on screen together as part of his group, Legacy. He had my dad’s last match, my first match in the company is Randy. There was a lot of rich story material, and then we inserted Pat McAfee. We are literally in that part right there.”

Rhodes continued by comparing McAfee’s placement in the storyline to an awkward addition.

“You know [the meme of] the troop is all outside and there’s that clown, right? I’m not saying he’s the clown in that regards. It’s just an interesting fit,” Rhodes said. “And we’re going to see where it goes. You can’t have that much success and be ground up like he is without being a serious person and having been to the Thunderdome. What I would say is right now, what I’ve seen is everyone around Pat McAfee, his orbit, probably someone needs to say no every now and then. We were talking about Bob Holly earlier. You need that one guy in the room to be like, ‘I don’t know, man. Jumping into the WrestleMania main event?’”

Rhodes also commented on McAfee’s promo and presentation, suggesting it came across as an imitation rather than something original.

“While I was getting my ass kicked in the ring the other night, looking up and he’s wearing shades. He put the shades on to go out there. It’s a different era of wrestling. It was like watching a guy at a bar do a Stone Cold impression,” Rhodes said. “I’m just gonna stick with the I don’t know him [mentality], but getting my ass kicked, I heard him talk about the Attitude Era and I’m thinking oh man, I don’t think he knows. [It was] almost 30 years ago. Love it and it was the most prolific era in the business until the last four years. So if you’re part of the last four years, you kind of feel like why are we talking about this? We’re playing in this game. Why are we talking about this?”

The situation continues to add another layer to the build toward WrestleMania 42, where Rhodes will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Orton.