Wade Barrett and WWE commentators were not informed of Pat McAfee’s return last month.
In an exclusive interview with Sporf, Barrett stated that Joe Tessitore and his reaction to McAfee’s involvement in Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton’s feud was legitimate. He revealed that there were blank pages on the sheet with the show’s rundown.
“Well, I was very surprised when Pat McAfee came out with the Randy Orton stuff on SmackDown. Sometimes there are blank pages on the sheet that I get as a commentator. That was blank. I had no idea Pat McAfee was coming out, I didn’t know what he was gonna say, so it was a shock to me, and it was a shock to Joe Tess on commentary, too. We were caught just as cold as the entire audience, and I was scratching my head. I didn’t really understand why Pat was saying certain things. He was taking shots at people who didn’t deserve to have a shot taken at them. He was also coming up with some references to 40-minute Ironman matches, and I don’t know what show he was watching there. So, yeah, I was caught cold by it. I enjoyed Cody when he came out and issued his immediate retort. And then I was laughing so hard when I watched CM Punk on Raw last Monday, one of the funniest promos and retorts that I think I’ve seen in a long time.”
Barrett complimented the brilliance of McAfee’s addition leaving everyone pondering on his association with the feud and the sentiment around it.
“I think the brilliance of this whole situation, it’s gone from an initial head scratcher to now the lines have been completely blurred, and I don’t know what is storyline, what is real life. Are they angry? I think when you get to that point, it just creates buzz, and I think the three of those guys you just mentioned have created some serious buzz going into WrestleMania. I think some people are up in arms about it. Other people are angry that CM Punk said some things that he perhaps shouldn’t have said, and went off-script, as people like to call it. I’ve been watching this game a long time, I’ve been behind the curtain for over 20 years at this point. I don’t know where the reality ends and the story begins at this point, so they’ve got me too. So I think it’s exactly what you need this time of year, heading into WrestleMania. You want buzz, you want people talking, you want eyeballs on it. Whether this is by design or by accident, whatever it is, it’s worked.”
On the April 3 edition of SmackDown, McAfee was revealed to be Orton’s mystery caller, being his backup for his WrestleMania match against Rhodes. The segment garnered much backlash from fans given McAfee’s disassociation with the storyline.
CM Punk called out McAfee’s interference labeling him a ‘tourist in the wrestling business’ which further led to a back and forth between the two.
