We are now just a week away from WrestleMania 42 and Pat McAfee isn’t just part of the build to the main event of the first night of action in Las Vegas. He is now the unquestioned star of the show.
The ESPN host was inexplicably inserted into the main event storyline between WWE champion Cody Rhodes and challenger and former mentor Randy Orton. What was a match that seemed to have all the ingredients of a classic, intriguing, entertaining WrestleMania build was turned upside down by the addition of a former part-time commentator.
McAfee turned heel to side with Orton against Rhodes. Although the on-screen explanations made no sense, it was easy to connect the off-screen dots for why he randomly showed up. McAfee is now represented by TKO CEO Ari Emmanuel. And just like Travis Scott’s heavily criticized WrestleMania 41 appearance, it seems like Pat McAfee is only in such a prominent position because he’s friends with the guy who runs the place.
It’s a big problem for WWE if the company’s main storylines heading into their biggest show are going to be hijacked by whoever the CEO wants to spotlight every year. And the fact that Emmanuel has reportedly handpicked McAfee and big-timed creative director Paul “Triple H” Levesque has led to an enormous uproar from wrestling fans, especially after his stunning promo that only seemed to tear down and hurt the current product.
Heading into Friday’s episode of SmackDown, McAfee was promoted as making an appearance to follow up on his shock return. But in his latest promo, he somehow made the situation even more confusing.
As part of his segment, McAfee responded to being called out by World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk, who was trying to promote his own main event against Roman Reigns for Night 2 of WrestleMania 42. And in doing so, he did two things.
First, he told fans that he was partnering with Ram trucks to provide a sale this weekend where tickets for WrestleMania 42 would be 25% off for the first night. Second, he told fans not to bother watching the second night for Punk’s main event because it would be “@$$.”
Thank You, @PatMcAfeeShow?!
From NOW until the end of #WWERaw this Monday, all #WrestleMania Saturday tickets are 25% off!
🎟️: https://t.co/27QozkNkDg pic.twitter.com/PTIX7WhOLN
— WWE (@WWE) April 11, 2026
“WrestleMania Sunday night? Ass. I wouldn’t recommend anybody spend money on that.”
– Pat McAfee#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/zuAT9KAUBx
— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) April 11, 2026
If you can figure out how any of this makes logical sense, then you are equipped to figure out what’s on the other side of a black hole.
Let’s try to break this down scientifically. Pat McAfee, a heel whose new schtick is that he hates modern day wrestling fans, is giving those same fans a significant discount to attend WrestleMania? Why is a bad guy trying to do something good for the fans?
In real-life, say what you will about McAfee, but he is an extremely generous individual when it comes to charity and giving money away. All you have to do is look at the millions of dollars he’s donated through the College GameDay field goal contest or given to charity as proof of that. It just exacerbates the mass confusion of the entire situation, especially when we don’t know when McAfee is playing his character and when he isn’t on his daily ESPN show, where he is also promoting the event.
Furthermore, for him to then say that only one night of WrestleMania is going to be worth watching is again another incomprehensible example of WWE telling their fans that their own product is not worth investing in. That’s as counter-productive as you can possibly be as any company, let alone in professional wrestling.
In all likelihood, this leads to CM Punk showing up on Raw this Monday and offering fans a similar discount for the second night of WrestleMania 42. But therein represents the biggest problem for WWE.
If the company is this desperate to sell tickets for WrestleMania, using precious television time for last minute sales, then it shows just how dire the situation truly is for the event. Ticket sales are lagging badly as fans complain about soaring prices thanks to the corporate ownership of TKO and are discouraged by the weekly product. How many viewers are realistically going to spend thousands of dollars on flights, lodging, and tickets, just a week before the show? And how does it make the fans feel who actually paid full price?
We are now in a dizzying downfall where WWE creative writers and TKO executives are misaligned, where McAfee is shooting at the hip and free to do whatever he wants, and where even current WWE superstars like Damian Priest are publicly voicing their displeasure. Nobody knows what’s a shoot, what’s a work, and what WWE or TKO is even trying to accomplish anymore. What good does it do anybody for McAfee to call out Punk live on WWE TV for being a hypocrite on Saudi Arabia?
It led even former WWE commentator Jonathan Coachman to post an emergency video on social media calling the entire situation “embarrassing,” to add to the other nuclear takes from wrestling fans across the internet and social media.
And unfortunately for WWE fans, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Because Pat McAfee is reportedly planned to team with Randy Orton against Cody Rhodes and Jelly Roll at Backlash following WrestleMania in the last match actual WWE fans want to see.
