The story of WrestleMania 42 is becoming more focused on the internal drama in WWE and TKO than anything else, and according to a new report that could be by design… but maybe not Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s design.
We’d already heard that Pat McAfee’s inclusion in Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton’s Undisputed WWE title program was TKO Chairman Ari Emanuel’s call. Apparently, McAfee’s connection to Emanuel (who represents Pat, and allegedly has big plans for him in Hollywood) may have
also granted him a great deal of creative freedom during his segment on SmackDown last Friday (April 3).
That report from Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
The belief internally is that this angle and storyline were not from the creative team nor Paul Levesque. This is where it gets weird. McAfee we know was an Emanuel call, not a Levesque call. The content of the McAfee promo was also not a creative team call… Multiple people have said that what McAfee said in knocking the company for Mania ticket sales and record low ratings was not written for him by the writing team.
McAfee knocked Rhodes for slow ticket sales for WrestleMania, and the March 27 SmackDown being the lowest rated show ever. Ticket sales have been frequently discussed, but the ratings remark has been interpreted by Meltzer and others as a reference to the show’s Cagematch rating, which would be low-key hilarious if you recall the kerfuffle over AEW president Tony Khan’s use of the fan-driven site’s ratings to hype his shows a few years ago. It would also be funny because last Friday’s episode with McAfee is now the lowest rated SmackDown in history on Cagematch.
It’s those lines specifically that Triple H and team are said to have been unaware of last week. Meltzer again:
As far as where those lines came from, that’s the million dollar question. The belief is that McAfee came up with those lines himself and was given permission to do so from someone. The writer of record for the segment was Christian Sowell and there was a writer, so creative itself was aware of McAfee and aware that it was not a Levesque call but something done over his head. However, the promo McAfee did was not the promo that Sowell told Levesque what McAfee was going to say. And Nick Khan was right there for all of it.
WWE president Nick Khan’s relationship with Triple H was in the news earlier this week, but if what Meltzer’s hearing is right, he didn’t stand up for “his guy” last week.
On the same topic, Sean Ross Sapp in his latest Fightful Select Q&A responded to a question about TKO’s involvement in the WrestleMania build by saying Emanuel and team aren’t “running roughshod” over WWE creative, as Triple H is still in charge of storylines and week-to-week direction. Sapp also reminded that Emanuel’s involvement in ‘Mania season isn’t new, as he was key to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s infamous involvement in last year’s event.
And at the same time, we’re hearing that WWE may pivot from what they had planned before McAfee’s much-panned segment last Friday. But Meltzer also says plans still call for a Randy Orton & Pat McAfee vs. Cody Rhodes & Jelly Roll match at Backlash next month…
Let us know what you make of all this below, and join us for SmackDown tonight and all the latest twists & turns — on-screen and behind-the-scenes — on the road to WrestleMania 42.
