"The most ill received thing in the history of wrestling”

You could do a book just based on backstage of what happened with WrestleMania 40 and what's happening with this WrestleMania.

Well, go ahead and let's, if you're gonna get to it, you know.

Oh, I know everyone's like everyone right now who's watching this is like, why is it?

Let's get to the McAfee stuff.

Get to the Mac, get to TKO.

Let's go.

Let's go.

I think the thing that I am most proud of, and maybe my dad would look at it and go, wow, he really did get the spot was WrestleMania 40.

I'm supposed to just straight up wrestle against Roman Reigns, and that happens.

Magic comes out of it though.

We got the final boss.

We got a match.

I mean, magic.

Rosemania 41, Cena goes rogue, Travis Scott, final boss there again.

A lot of unique elements, ancillary outside, huge elements.

I mean, Travis Scott's one of the greatest artists in the world and was a fan of our business and still WrestleMania 42 walking in again to Allegiant Stadium is the champion.

Now I'm looking at the billboard on the outside of the stadium and Pat McAfee.

Pat McAfee is on it next to Randy.

That is not what I envisioned, but I definitely think I'm meant to be the one to handle it.

I don't know what that means.

So I don't know.

Like, you know, I listen, this is, it's always weird for me to be in these positions with the WWE people because you have a show to do backstage.

The internet's gone crazy with all this, so I don't want to ask you anything you don't want to answer, but.

I, I've got you're a Haman guy , so you can ask me anything.

Well, let me, you know that, let me just say how far this has gotten.

I, I, I, I texted a friend of mine who and told him we were doing this in person today, former colleague of mine, Andy Gray, and this is what he writes back, right?

Just no.

As Cody a leading question so he can trash McAfee.

Like, should a kicker even consider himself an NFL player?

He loves to shit on McAfee, and then everyone picks it up.

So let's start with that.

Is a kicker an NFL player?

Are you watching NFL today?

Yes, a kicker is a huge.

Look at them.

They're making massive differences.

They're the hidden bombs, kickers, punters, every college NFL, and I have been kicked by Pat McAfee.

If I could say one nice thing about Pat McAfee, that's a trained foot.

He knows how to kick.

He knows how to, he knows how to.

He knows how to do a promo too, so does he?

He's standing there doing fart jokes and WrestleMania catchphrases, yelling what at a bunch of kids who don't even remember what.

And he was talking about the attitude error like it was 30 years ago, 30 years ago, I would have been 10.

Yeah, what are we, what we did, we got them.

They had a great run.

I, you know what, when he did that, I started getting, I was mad .

There was a, I'll not say who, but we had a partner with WWE who did merch for us, and they did all attitude era merch, and I remember going and being like kind of disgusted.

And that's again, I'm, I'm speaking on my behalf of my generation.

I loved the attitude era, but I thought we did all this work.

WWE is on ESPN now, Netflix.

Uh, WrestleMania 39 broke all these records.

WrestleMania 40 broke those records.

WrestleMania 40.

At what point do you want to shine a little, right?

Like I'll tell you something, Lil Yachty, right?

But don't you think wrestling overall.

Nostalgia is always a part of it.

Like, I mean, I, I love the attitude era, but I also go back to, I, I may have said this to you maybe in one of the interviews, when I was little, getting into wrestling, 6789 years old.

Everyone was WWE back then.

It was Hulk Hogan.

I was into Dusty and Georgia wrestling on TBS at at 6 o'clock.

So nostalgia, thank you.

I always thought that was so much better than WWE back then.

It, you know.

It was different.

It was different.

That's what it, well, they were the real, they were the grit.

It was different.

WWE is going heavy on the marketing.

I, I wanted to bring them up because I said him right before we started.

Little Yachty, you mentioned nostalgia, and Little Yachty's working with WWE right now.

I couldn't ask for a better peer.

And a better partner just, and I am not interacting with him on screen at all.

He's, I'm not gonna give it away, but he's doing some collab stuff and he thought of not just nostalgia, but modern in his collab efforts and that, that's, that's what I want.

I loved the attitude era, but put them together.

All right, so WrestleMania is this weekend you're facing Randy Orton.

Mm.

Uh, let me start with this.

How much do you pay attention to the online reaction?

Because I don't think.

You can get around the fact that this has not been well received with McAfee being put in this situation.

How do you deal with that as someone who's got to carry this and be part of it and deal with it?

I'll further that.

This is the most ill-received thing in the history of wrestling.

Gobblerly Gooker was one.

Shock master was up there, but that was kind of funny.

This is.

The entire fandom, every, your fandom, my fandom, um, independent wrestling fans, uh, casual fans, cinema fans, all the one, every single fan who ever said wrestling has received this with, huh, what?

OK.

So worst received thing in the history of wrestling.

But I want to say something on the bright side because I have to be an optimist in general.

On the bright side of this, Pat McAfee is a huge star.

And Pat McAfee is part of, he's one of the faces, if not the face of ESPN.

His college game day stuff is a legendary and a great athlete, and he loves wrestling.

He's just trying to help our party out.

So I respect him and.

I respect that.

On the other side of it.

I am attuned to the online audience, but it's not just the online audience, everybody of the audience.

And I think one time I made a mistake saying every wrestler looks right at their phone.

I didn't mean every wrestler immediately, but we all see it.

I look at that and ask myself, kind of like when I was doing Stardust or when I was getting a bone here and there on my way up, I look at that and ask myself, how can we make this something.

And why I'm not worried about it at all is because Randy Orton is the guy I'm wrestling.

Randy Orden is arguably the best he's ever been.

Uh, the last year before even Randy turned on me, there were crowds that were reacting to Randy in such an insanely positive way because they were feeling the love.

It was a respect thing.

They, they saw John go.

Randy's not going yet, but you could tell he's the hottest he's ever been, and he might be wrestler-wise.

I watched him wrestle Undertaker the other day where he's wrestled so differently.

He might be the best he's ever been.

That's, that to me means I know bell to bell, we're gonna be, we're gonna be just fine.

Now, Pat.

Where that fits in, I, uh, I am like you.

And I'm excited to stand at the plate and you know we're talking about these guys.

If you want that spot, that's it.

There's others who run from that and no, no, no, that John Cena dealt with this for years and years and years, and I'm dealing with it too.

All right, so here's where I'm at with it as a fan, not as somebody's following you.

Yeah, I know it's your house.

I know you're sure you don't want to get it positive, believe me, believe me, um.

Here's where I stand with it as a fan.

So when Pat did the first smackdown and got introduced into the storyline.

He, he kept using the line save the business.

And as a fan, I said I don't understand what that's supposed to mean because I know the business is booming.

Then there was this massive backlash to it.

Did the second promo last weekend, and now I feel like.

It's working out the way the WWE would want it to work out, and now I feel like we're all being worked, and this is because.

This attention is good, not bad for the company.

All attention is good, right?

Hate saying that .

You know, how people say go away heat.

There hasn't been anyone who has go away heat.

I remember there, it's like any time this is what I, when people ask me a lot about turning heel , we get into these arguments and they don't realize that.

I'm not trying to ever discourage the fans have all the knowledge.

I'm never knocking their knowledge, but if you are putting energy into something, that's not go-away heat.

If you're booing it, you are buying in.

The only type of go-away heat is where you literally turn the channel, where you leave the arena, where you go to the bathroom.

That's true go-away heat.

Most 9 out of 10 people who have been accused of having it in the last 10 years have not had it.

They've had heat.

That's meant to make you mad, right?

That, that might get, yeah, like people seem like they're pissed, but I would say to those people, you're gonna watch it now Saturday to see what ends up happening because that's, and that's the goal, isn't it?

I, I don't know.

I don't want to dispute any of Pat's, um.

Circle And, and, uh, how what he brings to the table, he brings a lot to the table.

WrestleMania is a unique table to come to though.

Wrestling fans are already coming.

They're there.

This is our biggest thing we do .

It's, we, this is where we have our moment.

This is our Super Bowl.

This is the thing we do.

It's all week and you know, it's not just WWB.

Everyone's in town.

Everything about wrestling and what we do is there.

It's a beautiful experience for a wrestling fan.

So not the play I would have made.

But again he's trying to add people to the party.

Respect that, um, attention like you said, energy, noise as Ca would put it, there's noise, respect that and people thinking, OK, now we're being worked or we weren't being worked or this is a shoot, this isn't.

You will never, I will, I'll try never to be dishonest with you, but.

This is, uh, any real magician is not gonna show what's what we've got.

I can tell you as a wrestling fan, you're watching something beautiful unfold because it is organically happening.

It is hard to call and it's a 3rd WrestleMania in a row where Thought it was just gonna be me and that guy straight up but no and I, uh, I think also I live for it, yeah, I mean.

I think what also has captured people are the, the reports that like TKO did this and not Triple H.

And again, in my head I go back to, OK, what was like the greatest feud in the history of wrestling, Mr.

McMahon versus Steve Austin, because you have The Office versus the wrestler.

So I think it, I think fans would be short-sighted to just think like, This isn't maybe the way it's supposed to play out, but we'll see what happens on Saturday.

We will, and I'll see it, and then we'll be able to talk and see where we, where we land.

Wrestling.

I just did when I was talking over at ESPN, one of the things they asked, what's different about WrestleMania?

And I said, for me it's real.

That's the best way to put it.

There's elements of it, sure, if you're a suspension of disbelief person or if you're.

Adamant about pointing out the fabricated elements of what we do.

Great, before WrestleMania season for me, this is as real as it gets.

Having to explain to Brandy, for example.

Here's what's happening.

Here's what I've been tasked with.

OK, we're walking into that.

Yep, we're walking into that, that it's real.

So that's when it's the best at the, I mean, chasing the championship, the title that Dusty never got, it's a real thing.

Ended up being the best moment of my career, um, so when it's real, it's at its best, and this is real, yeah, yeah.

And I, but if, but here's the thing, so what gives me a little pause is like.

So like there's been a several WWE superstars this week have come out and like blasted the McAfee insertion like Damien Priest, priest, yeah, Charlotte, Charlotte flared it and blasted.

She gave it no comment and I know in this business no comment what that means, um.

That's what makes me think, OK, they got, I mean, uh, let me ask you this, when they tell you McAfee is getting put in this.

Can you push back and try to change it, or do you have to just do what they tell you?

Cause it would seem to me you have earned the right to be able to push back.

That's an interesting question.

All right, we could leave it at that.

If, yeah, I, I'd say that's an interesting question.

Well, despite everyone being pissed off, everyone's gonna watch on Saturday.

There's no doubt about it.

There's no doubt about it because people wanna see now what happens.

I mean, listen, Pat kicked you in the balls.

You have to, there has to be some sort of revenge.

Right now I'm not allowed to touch Pat McAfee courtesy of, uh, TKO.

That's a non-working.

How do you feel about that?

Well, I'm wrestling Randy Orton, so that's good.

If I was wrestling Pat McAfee, then there'd be some issues in this.

TKO doesn't want you to touch Pat McAfee until I would assume WrestleMania you're allowed to touch him.

I don't know.

I, uh, so he's allowed to kick you in the balls.

I know you're not allowed to think I am working in this moment.

I don't know.

I will find out with everybody else.