WWE just isn’t for the hardcore pro wrestling fans anymore.
Pat McAfee getting involved in a main event of WrestleMania 42 was just the profoundly odd exclamation point on this idea that has been simmering to a boil ever since WWE linked up with the TKO/ESPN machines.
In an effort to be “more like a real sport” and grow the brand with non-wrestling fans, WWE has morphed into something almost unrecognizable.
Now, one of its headline acts for the biggest show of the year is constantly telling fans its own product is bad.
It’s not self-aware: It’s just completely lost the plot.
This feels like it really started with the first Raw on Netflix. Broad, sweeping shots of all the super cool celebrities in attendance were a red flag. To this day, attendance is down and ticket prices are too high.
This was a company coming off botching the historic John Cena heel turn with obvious outside meddling involving the likes of The Rock and Travis Scott. It moved through weird landmines throughout 2025, like Cena getting his teeth kicked in by Brock Lesnar in front of crying kids at Wrestlepalooza. Anybody remember shutting down the middle of Survivor Series for a YEET session? How about LA Knight never getting his clearly-earned push?
And now it’s culminated in this crappy ‘Mania build where a podcaster like McAfee is suddenly the guy whispering in Orton’s ear to go back to the Attitude Era. His weird comments about 5’5″ guys in long matches were tone-deaf: Maybe Pat was watching AEW instead, because he doesn’t even seem to know about the product he’s telling fans is terrible (while saying his guy on said product will…fix it?).
No, the “business needs saved” again for the fourth or fifth time in as many years and McAfee is hoping to help. A guy named Jelly Roll might be there in the main event of ‘Mania too, because why not?
It needs saved and it’s bled over into the other ‘Mania main event, with CM Punk recently needing to drop another (totally not pre-planned guys) “pipebomb” where he complains about McAfee’s meddling and ticket prices.
While we’re at it, perhaps he could have talked about WWE illogically putting WrestleMania in Las Vegas two years in a row, misreading the room and blaming fans and its product for the sales fallout.
Or, perhaps he could have mentioned that WrestleMania 43 will be straight up ripped from the average fan completely by taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Logically, there’s nothing WWE can do from here. The build is trashed. Rock could walk back through that door and it would…get non-WWE fans excited. Perhaps a few more tickets sold, ratings bumped.
But with the fans who carry the product on a month-to-month basis? The whole thing is cooked. If Orton decides to betray McAfee or whoever else they throw in the mix to pivot, he’ll just get cheered, which isn’t what they want.
Then there’s Cody Rhodes, a guy going into his third or fourth derailed-by-outside-meddling main event program at ‘Mania. Whether he’s getting legit hurt by Travis Scott or kicked in the nether regions by a podcaster while needing an assist from a guy named after a pastry, he can’t help but come off like a dork to the non-wrestling fans and a representation of all the meta problems with the product to the hardcore fans.
Keep in mind WWE continually loops to this our product sucks storyline every few years. It didn’t work back in the day when they threw all the blame at…Baron Corbin. Now, they just get to pretend it’s some corporate standoff vs. WWE creative, but nobody involved has nearly enough skill to make it actually compelling.
Congratulations to WWE, though, because if it wanted fans to finally stop yearning for the days of the Attitude Era, bringing Pat McAfee into the fold as the guy trying to make them happen again is going to put the whole idea out of its misery for good. Which is odd, because WWE was never bigger with the casual fans and in the broader monoculture than it was back then, so, hooray?
Incredibly, one could argue WWE has never been bigger. But it’s never felt smaller. And the fans who helped it get here have been cast aside. The tone-deaf, Vince-era-throwback attempt at earning just a few more eyeballs of those who aren’t yucky hardcore internet fans is apparently here to stay.
The only question is, will the hardcore fans stay, too?
