Real Reason Why WWE Suddenly Scrapped Plans For Pat McAfee

The reason behind the big plans regarding Pat McAfee in the WWE being suddenly scrapped has been revealed in a report. 

During the WWE Championship feud between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, leading to WrestleMania 42, Pat McAfee was revealed as the mystery caller, who was talking to Orton and joined forces with him. The revelation was met with a massive backlash from the fans, as Pat became a major part of the Mania feud.

Nevertheless, McAfee got taken out by Randy at Mania 42 Night 1 after being alongside him for weeks. Pat had also announced that he would leave if Orton didn’t beat Cody at Mania. As The Viper failed to capture the WWE title from The American Nightmare, McAfee is gone, and the rumored plans have also been scrapped after he got RKOed by Randy at Mania 42.

Pat McAfee’s plans with the WWE are now nixed due to a huge reason

Speaking on the recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that the plans have been scrapped because Pat McAfee himself opted out of the storyline with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes. Meltzer also reported that the Backlash match, where McAfee and Orton were reportedly set to face Cody and Jelly Roll, was also called off, as Pat opted out, reportedly due to the negative reactions:

“The Pat McAfee thing, he opted out. That’s what actually led to everything changing. That’s why the tag match from Backlash was taken off… The thing is that both of them (Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll) were very cognisant of what has been said about celebrities in wrestling. Both of them love wrestling and I think that they realised that there was a lot of negative sentiment about it… I don’t know the exact reason McAfee pulled out. There could have been many different reasons, but the reason that was believed was, in fact, the reaction… I was told that the belief was it was due to the reaction that he pulled out. It wasn’t like anything else. There’s a lot, a lot of chaos that was going on, especially on Saturday, for WrestleMania,” Meltzer noted. [h/t Cultaholic]

Pat McAfee pulled out of WrestleMania angle, which is why WWE has dropped it.

"The Pat McAfee thing, he opted out. That's what actually led to everything changing. That's why the tag match from Backlash was taken off… The thing is that both of them (Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll)… pic.twitter.com/vH24LKVy2m

— Cultaholic Wrestling (@Cultaholic) April 23, 2026

Pat McAfee was beloved as a commentator in the WWE for years, but his recent heel turn storyline wasn’t received well by the fans at all. It will be interesting to see if McAfee will be back in the Stamford-based promotion in a commentary role again.

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