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Pat McAfee officially ended his career in WWE on the first night of WrestleMania 42, following Randy Orton‘s loss to Cody Rhodes in the match for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
The situation was quite dramatic, since before the loss, Orton turned on McAfee himself and hit him with an RKO in the middle of the ring.
Before that loss, when there was speculation about an Orton victory and McAfee consequently remaining in WWE, there were rumors of plans for a tag team match at Backlash, the company’s next premium live event, which will take place on May 9 in Tampa. At the time, the rumors pointed to Rhodes teaming with Jelly Roll against Orton and McAfee.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE backed away from those plans due to the strong backlash McAfee faced in arenas and on social media.
“What I heard was simple: they pushed too hard with the audience and had to back off. Jelly Roll showed up and played his part, but disappeared at the end. There was nothing there indicating they were building toward a tag team match.”
WWE fans’ rejection of McAfee grew severely after it leaked that TKO CEO Ari Emanuel had allegedly been responsible for his inclusion in the Orton-Rhodes rivalry.
With McAfee out of the plans, Orton is expected to continue chasing Rhodes and his title in the coming weeks.