‘Pissed Me Off’ – Damian Priest Criticizes Pat McAfee’s Involvement In Randy Orton & Cody Rhodes WrestleMania 42 Feud, Many In WWE Locker Room ‘Weren’t Happy’

Published: Apr 10, 2026 by Jamie Toolan | Last Updated: Apr 10, 2026 by Jamie Toolan

Jamie has been covering the world of wrestling for four years and currently holds the position of Assistant Editor of WrestleTalk.com. During his time working for WrestleTalk.com he has written and published over 4,000 news and feature articles covering events and happenings from WWE, AEW, TNA and a variety of international and independent wrestling promotions.

‘Pissed Me Off’ – Damian Priest Criticizes Pat McAfee’s Involvement In Randy Orton & Cody Rhodes WrestleMania 42 Feud, Many In WWE Locker Room ‘Weren’t Happy’

WWE star Damian Priest has criticized Pat McAfee’s involvement in Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes’ WrestleMania 42 program.

After several weeks of teases, the Friday, April 3 episode of SmackDown saw Randy Orton’s mystery caller revealed to be none other than Pat McAfee, with the former NFL punter laying his mission to help Orton “save wrestling” by defeating Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 42.

The reveal was met with unanimous criticism from the WWE audience, with both Cody Rhodes and CM Punk speaking out about McAfee’s involvement on SmackDown and Raw respectively.

Damian Priest was asked for his thoughts on McAfee’s alliance with Orton while speaking with Gabby LaSpisa, and the current WWE Tag Team Champion did not hold back in his criticism of McAfee’s involvement.

Priest said:

“It sucks. Not a fan. Somebody who knows Pat, get along with him. But for me, it’s not my taste. I don’t think it helps anything. He didn’t need it.

“So for me and I’m sure a lot of people aren’t gonna be happy that I said that but in the locker room specifically, a lot of us weren’t happy and that’s real.

“I was asked by some of the younger talent, like what did I think and I thought it was bull. We’re a PG show right? But he could come in and he could throw f-bombs and say whatever he wants.

“For me that’s one of those things that so many other talent, even from one word could benefit and it’s like wow, now they’re up here. Instead you take somebody who’s not even here all the time and he gets away with saying something like that, who doesn’t even need it.

“Not gonna lie it kinda pissed me off.”

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WWE Looks Set to Double Down On Celebrity Involvement After WrestleMania 42

In what is sure to rub salt in the wounds of the many fans voicing their displeasure at Pat McAfee’s alliance with Randy Orton, it is being reported that WWE’s plans for Backlash involve even more celebrity involvement.

According to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE are planning of booking Randy Orton & Pat McAfee vs. Cody Rhodes and Grammy-winning country artist Jelly Roll at the the May 9 premium live event.

With Orton wiping Jelly Roll out with an RKO two weeks ago on SmackDown, it seems likely that we’ll see Jelly make an appearance at WrestleMania 42, or even take up placement in the corner of Cody Rhodes in an attempt to counter McAfee and Orton’s numbers advantage.

While Jelly Roll and Pat McAfee are two celebrities that have earned the respect of much of the WWE audience, their involvement in what should be one of WWE’s most personal and rich in history storylines is a highly questionable decision, and one that reeks of involvement from TKO’s top brass who are far less in tune with the product and desires of the fans.