How WWE Fans Killed TKO's Big Plans For WrestleMania 42
- Thomas Hall
- 6 minutes ago
- 5 min read
So we are officially done with WrestleMania XLII and as is the case after every WrestleMania, there is a lot of fallout to deal with up and down the card. There were results, surprises, changes and big moments, some of which are going to be causing ripple effects for a very long time to come. One of the things that stands out to me more than anything else is actually the opposite though, as it is more about what we won’t be seeing again, but more importantly WHY we won’t be seeing it again.
A few years back, the unthinkable happened as Vince McMahon sold WWE to Endeavor, resulting in the formation of TKO, with WWE and UFC moving under the same roof. That has resulted in WWE having corporate overlords for the first time and that is changing more than a few things. It has resulted in some good thing, but at the same time there have been some issues which have been a bit less than popular. One of those things recently came up, but things did not play out as expected.
Randy Orton Won The Elimination Chamber To Earn A WWE Title Shot
Back in February, Randy Orton won the Elimination Chamber, earning the right to challenge Cody Rhodes for the SmackDown World Title at WrestleMania. That is a story that writes itself, as not only is Orton a made man in WWE and a multiple time World Champion, but he and Rhodes also have quite the history together. It’s a story that doesn’t need much in the way of development, as everything was pretty much ready to go right out of the blocks. That’s a nice place to be, but leave it to wrestling to screw things up.
As we moved between Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania, Orton started to get phone calls from someone who seemed to be moving him in a new direction. This includes Orton going more evil than he had in a long time, with the voices in his head starting to make their return. That’s a story we’ve heard before, but the question became who was on the other side of the phone.
Pat McAfee Got Involved In The Storyline
It was Pat McAfee, a broadcaster who had not been around WWE for about ten months. McAfee pushed Orton to attack Rhodes and be even more of a villain. Why? Well (and I’m not kidding) because modern wrestling sucked and ticket sales for WrestleMania were going badly despite Orton being in the match. It was clear that things needed to go back to the Attitude Era, with Orton leading the charge.
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Now, if you’re thinking this sounds really, really, REALLY stupid, there’s a good reason for that: it absolutely was. Ignoring the fact that Orton literally wrestled in the Attitude Era for all of two weeks, that the story was about how bad ticket sales were going (because it was clearly the fans’ fault for not paying the crazy high prices) and that McAfee, who was known as the biggest fanboy imaginable apparently HATED ALL OF THIS, there was something else wrong with the story. There was one big plot point that made the whole thing that much dumber.
The other problem with McAfee being involved and pushing Orton in this direction was that Rhodes TOLD ORTON THAT HE WANTED HIM TO DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE! Orton had said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go all evil, but Rhodes said that he wanted the full Orton experience, giving him permission to bring it as hard as he could. So what exactly did McAfee even add? It’s almost like he was being wedged into a story where he didn’t belong. Well, about that…
After McAfee showed up, reports emerged that TKO was behind McAfee being inserted into the story, likely due to McAfee’s work with ESPN, which broadcasts WWE events in the United States and possibly in an effort to turn McAfee into an entertainment or film star down the line (allegedly). Whether this was true or not (and it seems rather likely), the only thing that mattered was that McAfee was involved, and the fans were not happy. At all.
To put it mildly, the reaction to the storyline was more or less universally negative, with fans cheering for Orton and seemingly not wanting McAfee to be involved whatsoever. McAfee would go on to say that he would leave WWE forever if Orton lost at WrestleMania. The match took place and, after McAfee suddenly had refereeing powers (or at least a referee shirt), he counted a near fall on Rhodes, earning himself an RKO from Orton. Rhodes went on to retain the title, but things were even more done than they seemed.
In the ensuing days, McAfee went on to apologize to Rhodes and announced that he was done with WWE, living up to his announcement before WrestleMania. Other reports stated that WWE backed away from the story and McAfee “opted out” of the whole thing, and apparently wrestling in general. McAfee basically said that he wasn’t going to be in industry that didn’t need him, even if he loved it.
So what caused all of this? The backlash from the fans.
Randy Orton RKO'd Pat McAfee At WrestleMania To End The Story
In short, the reaction to the story was so universally negative that the company as well as McAfee dropped the whole thing and everyone moved on with their lives. That is fascinating and incredibly telling, as it shows that as much as things have changed, they still remain the same. As much as TKO and WWE probably do not want to admit it, there is one master that stands above everyone else, and that is the audience.
WrestleMania XLI drew approximately $66m in ticket sales alone. Netflix’s current deal with WWE to air Monday Night Raw is worth about $5b over ten years. ESPN’s deal to air WWE content is worth over $1.5b over five years. Around the time of WrestleMania XLII, TKO Holding is worth about $35 billion. In short, WWE is worth a mind blowing amount of money and worth with some of the biggest platforms in all of entertainment. From a business perspective, it is the undisputed king of wrestling and nothing is anywhere close in the slightest.
And yet, despite all of that influence, power and money, the audience shot down what was supposed to be one of the biggest storylines in the company. McAfee returned on the April 3 SmackDown and was done on the first night of WrestleMania fifteen days later. The fans saw what WWE was doing with McAfee and were absolutely not having it. They made it clear that this was not going to be accepted and there was only so much WWE and TKO could do about the whole thing. The backlash was so bad that WWE gave in and the whole thing was dropped.
That’s the power that the fans still have. They might not get to show it too often and there are times when they might not realize it, but at the end of the day, the fans are able to make things happen in WWE, whether the company likes it or not. You can have all of the money and contracts and whatever else you want, but at the end of the day, if the audience doesn’t want to see what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter. There are all kinds of entertainment out there and companies, even the big ones, have to respect their fans or put themselves at risk. That was on display with McAfee and WrestleMania and the fans proved one all important fact: they matter.
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