The person advising Randy Orton on the phone during his backstage calls ahead of WrestleMania 42 was revealed in the opening segment of “WWE SmackDown” from Orton’s hometown of St. Louis, and it was a returning Pat McAfee to assist “The Viper.” McAfee, now playing a heel, hit a low blow to Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and cut a lengthy promo on him and WWE as a whole.
Orton opened the show after a video recap of Rhodes and Stephanie McMahon’s segment from Monday’s edition of “WWE Raw” from Madison Square Garden. Orton said, while he was home in St. Louis, he was doing it all for the six people, his wife and kids, at ringside. He started directly talking to Rhodes and said he saw the segment, but there was “no putting me back to bed.” Rhodes then came out and took off his jacket and got ready for a fight, and he and Orton started to brawl. That’s when McAfee got in the ring (wearing a Randy Orton shirt) and delivered a low blow to Rhodes.
McAfee got on the microphone and ran down the sports teams of St. Louis as Orton retrieved a chair to continue to beat down Rhodes. McAfee questioned why he was watching certain things on WWE television while Orton was around, and also questioned why WrestleMania tickets were somehow still available when Orton is around. He told Rhodes he was the one on the phone telling Orton he needs to “kill everything.”
McAfee said he wasn’t just advising Orton because of his journey to his 15th world title. He said it was because the business Rhodes is leading is “terrible” and Orton is “going to save the f****** business.” In a short backstage segment that showed the new allies leaving, McAfee once again brought up “the business” and said he needed to remind Orton of his “GOAT” status.
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