ASK TITO: Pat McAfee, WWE Wrestlemania 42 Predictions, Sid as “Legacy” HoF Inductee, Darby Allin Winning AEW Title, and More

The EXCELLENCE IN COLUMN WRITING is upon you, as the columnist with the hardest hitting opinions since October 1998 is back in your face with yet another column. This time, I am clearing out my private messages and emails from my longtime readers with yet another installment of ASK TITO where I’ll answer their questions on current events and provide my snappy answers. My columns generate thousands upon thousands of page views per posted column and I’ve been doing this for almost 28 years…

Now, I have a bone to pick with the yes-man WWE fans who went out of their way to attack wrestling fans who even DARED to question the creative of Pat McAfee turning heel and being injected into the Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes feud. They were called “negative”, “bitter fans”, and claimed to “like nothing WWE does” with their own words with them, as yes-man fans, supporting Pat McAfee’s sudden usage. However, the fans were simply asking for LOGIC in a storyline within 2-3 weeks of Wrestlemania. Pat McAfee hasn’t been in the WWE since 2025 and had ZERO involvement or heat with either Randy Orton or Cody Rhodes. Contrast that with Stephanie McMahon’s involvement, as she has past ties with Randy Orton such as working together in the Authority storyline.

Hell, I was attacked regarding my April 4th column where I discussed the illogical decision of adding Pat McAfee to the feud. I even had several NoDQ personalities attempt to call me out.

BUT, what I didn’t know when I wrote my April 4th column is what was behind Pat McAfee’s sudden appearance on Smackdown and being entered into a Wrestlemania 42 night #1 main event.

Back on February 19th, it was revealed that Pat McAfee obtained a new agent to represent him and help him land more TV and movie roles. Guess who he hired? The President/CEO of Endeavor and Chairman of the TKO Corporation Ari Emanuel. Yeah, that’s right, Ari didn’t give up his day job when he joined Endeavor and after overseeing both WWE and UFC.

According to Bloomberg’s reporting, Pat changed agents with the intent of becoming the “next Sylvester Stallone”.

And now, things are beginning to make sense.

Folks, the WWE is just a big platform for Ari and his fellow agents to push their clients through for publicity as well as being a gigantic ATM machine.

Think about the fascinating CONFLICT OF INTEREST that Ari now has. He represents Pat McAfee as an agent and gets him work with the WWE, including a major Wrestlemania 42 payoff. Agents reportedly make up to 10% of base salary and up to 20% of any major sponsorship deals of their clients. Ari is making money from his role at TKO and then at the same time, making up to 10% of any payoffs from Pat McAfee being at Wrestlemania 42 and prior WWE shows. That’s double dipping, baby.

Further, Ari is using his position as an authority figure to FORCE one of his clients onto the shows. There’s the true conflict of interest, as he’s showing bias towards Pat because Pat pays him money along with earning money himself whenever Pat now appears in the WWE and on Wrestlemania 42.

Oh, and by the way, Ari Emanuel also serves as Executive Chairman (formerly President/CEO) of the WME Group formerly known as William Morris Endeavor. Take a guess who represents The Rock? Brad Slater is his agent and he works for WME Group… Oh, the Rock joined the TKO Board of Directors and TKO awarded him $30 million worth in equity which the WME Group probably receives at least 10% for representing the Rock.

Do you know who else WME Group represents? Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Logan Paul, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair.

Now you understand why TKO was fully behind John Cena’s retirement, though anyone should have been. Cena is great!

Now you see why Cody Rhodes has been pushed so strongly since TKO took over the WWE during 2023.

And now you see why TKO looks the other way regarding Brock Lesnar’s possible involvement in Vince McMahon’s scandal.

Makes sense why Logan Paul gets favorable attention in the WWE for his part-time role (being totally honest, he’s talented and I cannot deny that).

Now you see why Roman is kept strong (he should be, anyway), and is allowed to take lots of time off to film movies. WME Group is getting a piece of that Street Fighter money!

Now you see why Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair are still being pushed so strongly.

If I were entering the WWE, I’d seriously hire WME Group to represent me. Why? Because it’s almost a guarantee to get pushed and keep getting pushed in the WWE. Plus, they’re 100% OK with you taking excessive time off from the WWE as long as you’re filming a movie, which WME Group gets a cut out of as well.

Do you now see what Vince McMahon forced a sale of the WWE to during 2023? He sold out to a bunch of agents who will do anything in the interest of his clients, even disrupting the creative of a wrestling show.

And with celebrity involvement, such as Pat McAfee, it really shows issues with TKO’s management because they are OK with Pat McAfee making extra money to work for the WWE but they HATE paying out regular wrestling talent (unless represented by WME Group).

WWE is no longer a wrestling company. It’s a platform for WME Group to present their clients and use as an ATM to pay themselves and their clients.

That’s why TKO Corporation SUCKS and that’s why I 100% stand by my stance of boycotting Wrestlemania 42 as I stated in my March 24th column.

And that’s how you do it, my fellow NoDQ staff… Question things that are illogical and then look at FACTS. Y’all have egg all of your faces by blindly clapping like a circus seal to anything WWE does.

Also, you cannot call me a “WWE hater”. If you read my columns, I’ve been very favorable of praising the WWE since it extinguished senile Vince McMahon from running the company and micro-managing everything daily. As someone who was critical of Triple H as an EVP during the 2010s, I’ve been supportive of him during the 2010s.

These WWE marks are the ones who thought Steve Austin’s 2001 heel turn was “brilliant”, WCW/ECW Invasion was great during 2001, NWO was handled great during 2002, unmasking Kane and bringing in Kane during 2002-2003 was amazing storytelling, anything involving Stephanie McMahon on-screen was top-notch, and pushing an inexperienced Roman Reigns and having him read scripted lines during the 2010s was incredible EVEN THOUGH Monday Night RAW lost over 2 million viewers and WWE lost thousands in attendance back then. They are the circus seals clapping for Pat McAfee being shoved into Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton.

TKO loves these “loyal to a fault” WWE fans… They can rip them off with higher ticket prices, cause their Netflix subscriptions to balloon in price with the WWE deal, and force them to pay $29.99 to ESPN for PLEs (double or triple of what they previously paid). These yes-man fans are also the ones overpaying what Fanatics wants for WWE merchandise, which causes WWE merchandise to be expensive for everyone else.

You’ll keep being wrong, and TKO will keep bending you over a chair and showing you who is your true daddy. Meanwhile, my money will go elsewhere and my eyes won’t have to see the multiple sponsorships and ads shoved into Wrestlemania 42 this weekend.

Did you get all of that? I hope that you did. You loyal yes-man WWE fans make me sick because of how easily TKO can exploit you.

Unlike you, you can’t buy me. I’m the WWE watchdog and have been for the past almost 28 years. I’ll hold the WWE accountable when they are falling off the path, but I’ll also hold yes-man fans accountable for their dirty deeds and ignorant statements.

And I’ll hold AEW accountable, too… I do that simply by not watching them and covering them. They mean nothing to me thanks to Tony Khan’s awful management of the company and its creative.

Onto your questions.

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ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answers

Do you think CM Punk will be held accountable for his anti-TKO remarks or his comments about Ari Emanuel?

I’m struggling to think that CM Punk or Cody Rhodes’s comments about Pat McAfee were “shoots”. For one, Cody is represented by Ari Emanuel’s WME Group and therefore, I don’t think he’d purposely speak ill will about his agent and boss that way. CM Punk, on the other hand, doesn’t have an agent relationship with WME Group and could therefore have a chance to be more authentic with his comments.

Look, I wouldn’t doubt that the analytics and the creative minds have read into fan anger and have since opted to create a new storyline regarding it. During 1998-1999, you had the Corporation storyline and I wouldn’t doubt that this storyline is brought back. However, I could see CM Punk and Cody Rhodes being smokescreens for something peculiar to possibly happen at Wrestlemania. What if Cody Rhodes and Pat McAfee were truly in this together and screw Randy Orton? And then, on night 2, CM Punk flips into a heel and becomes a corporate champion too? Then, you’d have WWE favorites Randy Orton and Roman Reigns going up against the Corporate-backed, with possibly The Rock behind it all, Cody Rhodes and CM Punk.

On that point, I hope so… WWE is in dire need of a massive storyline and a strong heel stable that could shake up the company for a few years. WWE has lost a ton of quality since the Bloodline storyline fell apart after Wrestlemania 40.

You cannot convince me that Cody and Punk were just allowed to attack TKO management and allude to higher ticket prices… Sorry, but I don’t believe it.

Something is happening this Sunday, I think, or maybe escalated even further on the RAW after Wrestlemania. I think that WWE knows they’ve been treading since Wrestlemania 40 and running on that show’s fumes.

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What are your Wrestlemania 42 predictions?

You do realize that I HATE making PLE predictions, right? But, since I like you, I’ll go for it…

The Vision/IShowSpeed vs. The Usos/LA Knight – Toss up, but I don’t trust a team with LA Knight and with Heyman at ringside. I’ll go with Vision and their celebrity partner, whom TKO wants to look good in their platform, to win the match.

Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre – Drew is old news, for the moment, and Jacob needs a big win. Fatu for the win.

Stephanie Vaquer vs. Liv Morgan – That concussion issue seals Stephanie’s fate, but Liv was going to win anyway based on the big Rumble win. Liv is the #1 female star and is going to get pushed to the moon with a very dominant title reign.

AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch – How much will we see AJ Lee after Wrestlemania? She’s here and then she’s gone for a while. I’ll go AJ Lee, as I don’t know where WWE wants to go with Becky.

Fatal Four Way for the Women’s Tag Titles – If Nikki didn’t get hurt, I’d go Bellas here. But since she’s hurt, I’d have to see who the replacement is and go from there. I’ll go safely with Charlotte and Alexa Bliss regaining the tag titles here as the biggest stars of the match.

Seth Rollins vs. Gunther – With Gunther possibly facing Lesnar at SummerSlam, I think he needs a big win over a guy who defeated Lesnar twice previously. Gunther for the win!

Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton – I’m going Cody. I’m smell a set-up and a double turn here. Pat McAfee just doesn’t fit with Orton and could be setting up Cody to be the “corporate champ” and maybe we see the Rock here and approving. I don’t know… But I don’t see Orton getting the better of this feud.

Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar – The great thing about Brock Lesnar is that he can lose but always remain strong because, well, he’s Brock Lesnar and one of the toughest human being to ever walk this planet. But that’s the problem, because defeating him doesn’t always look credible. Oba wins here, but in a very close fight to keep Lesnar strong for his retirement match at SummerSlam 2026 against Gunther.

6-pack Ladder Match for IC Title: I’ll go Penta to retain his title and look strong in a good Wrestlemania spot.

Jade Gargill vs. Rhea Ripley – Writing is on the wall, Jade isn’t what WWE would hope she could be. Rhea is going to defeat her and I wouldn’t be surprised if WWE parts ways. She looks like a million bucks, but has two left feet in attempts to be a performer. Muscles are cosmetic, too. WWE likes Rhea Ripley, especially Triple H, so thus she wouldn’t be in this Wrestlemania spot to just lose on the biggest stage.

Sami Zayn vs. Trick Williams – Trick Williams for the win to get the US Title off of Sami, just in case WWE has bigger plans for Sami at Wrestlemania 43.

Finn Balor vs. Dominik Mysterio – You can bring back the demon all you want, but it’s still Finn Balor. Dom wins here because he has far more long-term value to WWE than Finn does.

CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns – Two babyfaces against each other… I sense that one of these guys will turn heel, but I’m also feeling that for Orton vs. Cody. Hard to bet against Roman Reigns in this spot, as the World Title spots haven’t been as strong since Roman’s combined reigns. I’ll go Roman here, though I wouldn’t be shocked if CM Punk wins via screwjob of something. Just feels weird that Punk cuts an anti-TKO promo just before Wrestlemania…

And there you go…

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Thoughts on Sid Eudy getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame’s “legacy wing”?

Ugh. WWE should have inducted him when he was alive, BUT they had legit fear over what Sid Eudy (aka Sid Vicious aka Sid Justice aka Sycho Sid) would say. The BEAUTY about Sid Eudy was that he gave zero damns about the rest of the world and he knew about his own self-worth to a wrestling promotion. In other words, he knew that wrestling promotions needed him more than he needed them. His look, appeal, and even talent could land him jobs anywhere. Hence why WWE and WCW gave him multiple chances.

That’s what many other wrestlers need to realize… The power is on the guys taking the bumps inside the ring, not the greedy promoters especially if you’re talented or have the right look. CM Punk walked out of the WWE during 2014 and for years, you’d hear “CM Punk” chants. Know your worth and stop letting the promoter dictate terms.

I get why WWE didn’t induct Sid while he as alive, which is the same feeling why WWE avoided putting in Bruno or Warrior. Sid was conducting shoot interviews where he was very honest about his career and might do the same on the microphone. However, I saw him come back to WWE RAW for the Heath Slater stuff and he was a total professional for that.

To me, Sid is a bigger addition to the Hall of Fame than Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie McMahon is only there because she’s the daughter of Vince and was handed every opportunity. Yes, Stephanie made the most of it, but she’d never get a foot in the door on her own and has never worked beyond the WWE. Sid drew money everywhere he went, even after he did controversial things. He stabbed Arn Anderson repeatedly with scissors and still found work as a main eventer…

There’s so much politics with the WWE Hall of Fame, but it’s funny how much they care about something that lacks a physical building that you could walk into…

*****

What are your thoughts on Danhausen in the WWE?

You know what, I heard this guy is really nice in real life and is good with fans. I don’t want to cook him here…

To me, his value would only be to a company with a legitimate Cruiserweight Division as a wrestler. He’s like 5’10 and under 200 pounds (like a slightly lighter version of Finn Balor).

As a non-wrestler, I just don’t see the value and WWE isn’t doing well with him so far. AEW was often confused how to use him, too.

Seems like a nice guy, though, so I’ll leave it at that.

*****

Thoughts on Darby Allin winning the AEW title?

It’s a Lifetime Achievement Award… He’s an AEW original, worked hard for the company, and they are rewarding him. This is literally similar to Jey Uso winning the title.

Is it the right decision? Of course not! There are bigger drawing and bigger wrestlers to make world champion over both Darby and Jey. However, sometimes, you gotta reward loyalty and also show that climbing the ladder for a long period of time is worth it.

You might be expecting me to totally crap on this decision, but I look at that AEW roster and there really isn’t much on that roster to impressively defeat MJF. What makes me laugh is that AEW spent a metric ton on other wrestlers and they aren’t defeating MJF, but an undersized yet loyal Darby can.

AEW can make anyone champion at this point… They haven’t been the same promotion since 2022 when they allowed gossip and drama ruin their promotion and then foolishly rewarded those EVPs with new contracts through early 2023.

Congrats, Darby. For any longtime AEW fans, this probably felt rewarding and I don’t want to rain on their parades.

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In your opinion, what are the following bests from Wrestlemania?

Best Wrestlemania? Still gotta be Wrestlemania 17, even though the Stone Cold heel turn still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Wrestlemania 40 was amazing, but WM 17 has the way better undercard.

Best Wrestlemania match? Damn… Gotta go with Austin vs. Bret Hart from WM 13, with HBK vs. Kurt Angle from WM 21, Undertaker vs. HBK from WM 25, and HBK vs. Razor from WM 10 as close seconds. Damn, I love me some Hogan vs. Rock from WM 18, too!

Best Wrestlemania legacy? Undertaker has that streak, Hogan had massive matches for the first 9 events… But Shawn Michaels is Mr. Wrestlemania, period. So many great matches to choose from.

Best Opening Match? Come on, Bret vs. Owen Hart from WM 10.

Best Wrestlemania of the last 10 years? WM 40, but I really like WM 39. Very underrated WM.

Best Wrestlemania celebrity involvement? Love Bob Ueker getting choked out… I’d have to go with Snoop Dogg’s improvising after Shane tore his quads. That was impressive how he literally saved that segment as a professional.

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Enjoy Wrestlemania 42!

I need some big things to happen at Wrestlemania 42 or the post-RAW show for me to really care. Otherwise, writing will continue to be scarce for me especially with TKO’s greedy hands controlling the WWE company.

Crazy thing to think about is that Vince McMahon could have just retired and let HHH/Stephanie run the company after him, and they’d be just fine without Endeavor. Endeavor, itself, has about $6 billion in debt while TKO, itself, has around $4 billion in debt. Think about how insane that is with how much of a CASH COW the WWE has been since 2023 with their TV deals, Sponsorships, Saudi money, and ripping off cities with PLE deals.

So, screw TKO. And I have better things to do than to support their nonsense while dealing with yes-man fans who will defend them.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ