WWE introduced Pat McAfee into one of their top storylines last week, revealing himself as Randy Orton's mystery caller. The move was heavily criticized by WWE fans and reports later emerged that the company's creative team wasn't even responsible for it as the edict came from TKO's executive team, specifically Ari Emanuel.
On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that McAfee was always the "first choice" for the spot, confirming that McAfee's agent, Emanuel, was the driving force behind it as he was looking for "celebrity involvement" as well as "corporate synergy" purposes. However, McAfee originally declined the offer and it caused the company to scramble to try and find someone else to fill the role, however, ultimately they were obviously ble to come to an agreement with McAfee in the end.
Meltzer re-iterated that the decision even came over the head of WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque which is the reason why a lot of people within WWE were also upset about it. Meltzer shared that one person in WWE felt it was the "single most counterproductive thing" that WWE has done in a very long time.
McAfee, who airs his podcast on ESPN - the same company that will stream WWE WrestleMania 42 - and he is expected to be pushed heavily on their platforms due to his popularity. McAfee has stated that if Randy Orton - whom he is backing - doesn't beat Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed title, he will never appear on WWE programming again.
