Report: Pat McAfee ‘Opted Out’ Of WWE Plans After WrestleMania 42, Reason Why Backlash Tag Team Match Plans Were Scrapped

WWE

Pat McAfee reportedly “opted out” of having further involvement on WWE TV after WrestleMania 42, with “the belief” being that he did so due to the negative reaction to him.

Just as he promised he would do should Randy Orton lose to Cody Rhodes in the main event of WWE WrestleMania 42 Saturday, Pat McAfee confirmed on Monday that he was leaving wrestling behind, saying “the business doesn’t need to be saved after all.”

That same day it was reported by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer that Randy Orton was originally planned to win the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 42 as late as the evening of Friday, April 10.

In today’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer detailed why WWE’s plans changed, saying that McAfee actually “opted out” of having further involvement on television after WrestleMania 42, including a tag team match that would have seen he and Orton team up against Jelly Roll and Cody Rhodes at Backlash 0n May 9.

“He (Pat McAfee) opted out, so that’s what actually led to everything changing. That’s why the Backlash tag match was taken off, Orton & McAfee vs. Jelly Roll and Cody Rhodes.

“So that thing is that both of them (Pat McAfee & Jelly Roll) were very cognisant of what has been said about celebrities in wrestling, and both of them love wrestling.

“I think that they realized there was a lot of negative sentiment about it. They listened, they understood and I think they saw the fans’ side of it and I think that’s what led to this. The owners had their own version and everything like that.

“I don’t know the exact reason McAfee pulled out, there could have been many reasons but the reason that was believed was in fact the reaction. I was told that the belief was it was due to the reaction that he pulled out, it wasn’t anything else.”

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

Cody Rhodes’ Status For WWE Backlash 2026 Uncertain

Whether McAfee was still around in WWE or not, it’s unclear whether the planned tag team match for Backlash would have been able to go ahead regardless due to Rhodes suffering a “severe” orbital bone injury during his match with Orton at WrestleMania 42.

While Cody has since appeared on WWE Raw, where he showed off his gnarly eye injury during a face-to-face with CM Punk, it’s not known when we can expect to see him back in action, with the latest update during the WrestleMania 42 Sunday Countdown Show being that “The American Nightmare” was not medically cleared to compete.

With Jacob Fatu set to challenge Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash, there will likely be less need for Cody to also defend his gold as the company often give one of their champions a PLE off should their counterpart on the opposite brand be in action.

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• wwe
• WrestleMania
• backlash
• Randy Orton
• Cody Rhodes
• pat mcafee
• jelly roll
• WrestleMania 42

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