Report: Pat McAfee’s negative comments about WWE business did not come from the creative team

As seen during the April 3rd 2026 edition of WWE SmackDown, Pat McAfee was revealed as Randy Orton’s mystery phone caller after he attacked WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com, “many” people in WWE were not happy about the SmackDown segment. Meltzer noted that “more than one person told us they thought it was very counterproductive with one calling it the most counterproductive thing in a long time.”

According to Meltzer, the internal belief is that the storyline with McAfee did not originate from the creative team or from Paul “Triple H” Levesque. McAfee’s involvement is widely believed to have come from a direct call from TKO’s Ari Emanuel, rather than being initiated by Levesque.

The content of McAfee’s promo was also not something dictated by the writing team. While several people were aware McAfee had been contacted, far fewer knew he would actually appear on the show, though key decision-makers had been aware his name had been in discussions for weeks.

The appearance was tightly controlled internally. Talent were kept in the dark, and McAfee was brought into the building at the last minute in order to avoid word leaking out beforehand.

Multiple sources indicate that McAfee’s on-air comments, particularly those referencing criticism of the company regarding WrestleMania ticket sales and low ratings, were not scripted by the writing staff.

The key unanswered question is where those lines actually came from. The prevailing belief is that McAfee came up with the promo himself and was given approval by someone higher up to proceed. The listed writer for the segment was Christian Sowell, and there was a writer assigned to it, meaning creative was at least aware McAfee was involved and understood this was not a standard Levesque-driven segment.

However, the promo McAfee delivered reportedly did not match what Sowell had communicated to Levesque ahead of time. It was also noted that throughout the process, WWE President Nick Khan was also present.