Pat McAfee Has ‘Nuclear True Hate Heat’ With WWE Fans Says Announcer Joe Tessitore

WWE

WWE announcer Joe Tessitore says Pat McAfee has established “nuclear true hate heat” with fans ahead of WrestleMania.

Ari Emanuel, the CEO of WWE parent company Endeavor and TKO, inserted his client Pat McAfee into the Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton WWE Championship match build for WrestleMania in an effort to boost ticket sales, interest on ESPN, and McAfee’s stock.

Over the past couple of weeks, it’s been well documented that this hasn’t gone down well with WWE fans, who are not happy about the 20-year history between Rhodes and Orton being overshadowed by the impromptu and out-of-place McAfee storyline.

It’s believed that this is an opinion shared in the WWE locker room too, with recent heated comments on TV made by CM Punk and Cody Rhodes not far off the true feelings of people backstage.

On ESPN SportsCenter today, SmackDown announcer Joe Tessitore was previewing WrestleMania, and said:

“There are different levels to what we call ‘heat’ in the industry of sports entertainment. Of the negative reaction from the fans. There’s ‘cheap heat’ – ‘Hey, your local sports team sucks,’ fans react. There’s ‘heel heat.’ There’s ‘go away heat.’

“And then there is what you are seeing right here, which is Pat McAfee creating ‘nuclear true hate heat’ in the last two weeks with what he’s done on the mic and what he’s done physically to Cody Rhodes, the Undisputed Champion.

“Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton have two decades of shared history, even without Pat McAfee. They have the student vs teacher, the older brother/younger brother, the friends now enemies.

“You add Pat in, and two decades of history, in just two weeks, Pat has done something few have ever been able to do – he has taken Cody Rhodes and made him red hot, and when it comes to what’s gonna happen this weekend, I think there could be an emotional charge and distraction with the champion.

“I think Pat could play a major role in what we see at Allegiant Stadium.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link back to this page. 

Is Joe Tessitore Right About Pat McAfee’s Heat With WWE Fans?

Joe Tessitore brought up ‘go away heat’ during his comments on SportsCenter.

That’s probably a more accurate way to describe how the true ‘die-hard’ WWE fans feel about McAfee – there is a legitimate level of annoyance about his presence, and that’s what go away heat is.

McAfee has tried to play into this as part of the storyline, referring on SmackDown to “the IWC (internet wrestling community)” and “marks.”

However, TKO is likely not concerned about the reaction from that particular section of fans as this was clearly designed to be something that brings in the more ‘casual’ viewers who know McAfee from football and his show.

This has been a trend in recent months with the celebrities being brought into WWE, and the company does need to be careful not to alienate its core passionate fanbase while trying too hard to appeal to those outside of that bubble.

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• Joe Tessitore
• wwe
• WrestleMania
• pat mcafee

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