Pat McAfee Calls CM Punk A Fraud, References Saudi Arabia Controversy In Heated Response On WWE SmackDown

WWE

Pat McAfee issued a response to CM Punk on tonight’s April 10 episode of WWE SmackDown in San Jose, California.

Punk aimed a heated promo at McAfee on Raw this past Monday, which reportedly reflected some legitimate frustrations in the WWE locker room regarding McAfee’s insertion into the Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton WWE Title match at WrestleMania.

When McAfee made his entrance tonight, he held his middle fingers up to the crowd and the screen had to be blacked out before the cameras purposely shot below his fingers.

McAfee opened his promo by firing back at CM Punk, referring to Punk as a fraud, and calling him out for claiming to be a man of the people while wearing official WWE merch.

He followed that up by also calling Punk a hypocrite for bringing up the WWE and WrestleMania ticket prices, saying:

“When that TKO merch check comes through, does it go to the needy wrestling fans that can’t afford WrestleMania tickets, or does it go to the account titled ‘I’m sorry Saudi Arabia’?”

That’s a reference to Punk being passionately against WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia a number of years ago, then last year apologizing to Saudi and working a show there.

McAfee also spoke about a 25% off WrestleMania tickets sale for this weekend which was clearly pre-planned as a graphic came up on the screen as he said it.

He actually said WrestleMania night two will be “ass” because of Punk and nobody should go to it, and everyone should get tickets to night one to see Randy Orton.

Cody Rhodes Interrupts Pat McAfee

After McAfee was done, he was interrupted by Cody Rhodes who told McAfee that he doesn’t belong here and to go home – and that’s the one thing all wrestling fans can agree on.

Rhodes also made fun of McAfee for when he left his WWE commentary role last year citing burnout, mocking McAfee for being “tired.”

As McAfee kept trying to goad Rhodes into hitting him – which would have gotten Rhodes in a lot of trouble with General Manager Nick Aldis – Randy Orton came up on the tron and showed that he had attacked Jelly Roll backstage.

Orton and McAfee then proceeded to beat down both Jelly and Rhodes in the ring as McAfee raised Orton’s arm and held up the WWE Championship belt.

Another point worth noting is that Aleister Black and Zelina were spotted in the background of shots of McAfee and Orton backstage before and after their in-ring segment, so there’ll likely be some further involvement in the storyline from them too.

Is Pat McAfee Good In His New WWE Role?

A lot has been made about the whole direction of the storyline and while, yes, that is a problem and is rightly being called out by WWE fans, McAfee himself isn’t the issue here.

It’s been evident for years that McAfee has an aptitude for pro-wrestling and has worked as both a heel and a babyface.

While it’s certainly not ideal that this is the way the Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton WrestleMania match is playing out considering their extensive history that could have been the focus instead, McAfee is at least pulling off what he’s there to do.

It isn’t like he’s a celebrity with no interest or knowledge of wrestling – he does clearly care about and know what he’s doing, so at least that’s a positive.

However, things like plugging ticket offers so blatantly should never be part of a promo and is the latest example of TKO prioritizing financial gain over the quality of the product, and unfortunately McAfee is now the face of that cause.

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!

• Randy Orton
• Cody Rhodes
• Smackdown
• pat mcafee
• wwe
• cm punk

Share this article with friends