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WWE WrestleMania 42 Night 1: Pat McAfee gives thumb up, middle finger while being stretchered out

IMG_0985by: Griffin McVeigh04/19/26griffin_mcveigh

Night 1 of WrestleMania 42 provided one of the biggest hits we have seen in the WWE in quite some time. Pat McAfee was put through a table by music artist Jelly Roll via an elbow drop. McAfee was then stretchered out of Allegiant Stadium, where around 70,000 people are in attendance. There was a mixture of applause and boos raining down on McAfee.

Which means his response to the crowd was a little bit of both sides as well. Initially, McAfee gave out a thumbs-up while being rolled away. However, as the boos began to grow louder and louder… a different finger was pointed in the air.

McAfee usually knows how to provide some drama when performing in the WWE. Saturday in Las Vegas is just the latest example. You can check out the full moment from him here.

The build-up to a battle between McAfee and Jelly Roll has taken place over the last month. It’s a subplot in a bigger matchup between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. McAfee has sided with Orton, while Jelly Roll continues to back Rhodes.

Jelly Roll promised to ‘check’ Pat McAfee on Friday Night Smackdown

Randy Orton earned the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 42 by winning the Men’s Elimination Chamber match in February, beginning his quest to a potential 15th World Title win. In the following weeks, ‘The Viper’ began speaking to an anonymous voice over the phone, influencing him to go back to his ‘old way’. That voice was revealed to be McAfee, who then turned heel and kicked Rhodes in the groin on SmackDown.

Jelly Roll was inserted into the feud on the March 27 episode of SmackDown, after he tried breaking up a fight between Orton and Rhodes. He ate an RKO from Orton, which wrote him off television over the coming weeks. He made his return on the second-to-last episode of SmackDown prior to WrestleMania, where he threatened McAfee to kick off the show.

“I shouldn’t have been between Cody and Randy, and neither should you,” Jelly Roll said to McAfee. “Someone’s going to end up checking you. What if I’m checking you right now? I don’t see Randy anywhere, Pat? What’s wrong with you man?”

Jelly Roll ended up sticking with his words, as he absolutely checked his former friend in Las Vegas. He was a massive part of Pat McAfee‘s ‘Big Night Out‘ event in Pittsburgh last year, but just a short time later, he is now dropping an elbow onto McAfee through an announce table. While many have been confused about the insertion of the celebrities to the main event feud, it paid off in a massive way Saturday night.

On3’s Daniel Hager contributed to this report