ESPN Under Fire for Pat McAfee, Cody Rhodes Segment Ahead of WrestleMania

ESPN really wants you to buy WrestleMania 42, and they’re trying every avenue to get the new or casual fan to buy into this weekend’s two-night extravaganza.

What was supposed to be a heated feud between WWE champion Cody Rhodes and his bloodthirsty mentor, Randy Orton, for the biggest prize in the game has been completely washed away in the final few weeks before the marquee event.

In its place, Orton, the challenger for the belt, has turned into a side character, while the main rival for Rhodes to conquer is ESPN and WWE personality Pat McAfee, who has gone from commentator to soap opera villain the past three weeks in an attempt to sell the show.

The feud for the WWE title has spilled onto linear ESPN television, as McAfee kidnapped the WWE championship — no, not Orton, the guy actually challenging for the belt — and has been parading it around on his daily television show for the past few days.

But on Wednesday, the storyline took another turn, as “security cameras” caught Cody Rhodes breaking into McAfee’s studio to steal back the belt and destroy his television setup.

Orton, again, the person actually vying for the championship against his former protege, is nowhere to be seen.

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Although the segment was another attempt by TKO, the owners of UFC, WWE, and ESPN, to get McAfee fans and sports fans at large interested enough in the story to buy WrestleMania 42 this weekend, it has continued to neglect the current WWE audience.

The move to put McAfee at the center of the feud over Orton has enraged fans across the internet, who wonder how far TKO and ESPN will go to convert sports fans into pro wrestling fans.

At this point, even though he’s not in the match, it wouldn’t be a shock at all if by the time WrestleMania 42 wraps up, Pat McAfee is your new WWE champion, and Orton is his personal bodyguard.

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 4:43 PM.