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WWE WrestleMania 42 Night 1: Pat McAfee makes heated entrance, flips middle fingers to fans

Danby: Daniel Hager04/19/26DanielHagerOn3

The ever-polarizing Pat McAfee made his WrestleMania 42 Night 1 entrance Saturday night ahead of the main event between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton for the Undisputed WWE Championship.

McAfee took his sweet time heading down the ring, cursing out fans and flipping middle fingers to just about everybody in attendance in Allegiant Stadium. He then introduced Orton ahead of the match, calling the fans ‘fata** bums’. Unreal heat from the former NFL All-Pro punter.

Following the introduction of Orton, McAfee sneakily hit Rhodes in the head with a microphone. Rhodes, however, quickly fought back and laid out McAfee with a Cross Rhodes. The Undisputed WWE Champion then laid McAfee on a table, as country music star Jelly Roll entered the frame. Jelly Roll climbed the announce table and dropped an elbow through McAfee, which took him completely out of the equation.

McAfee was then stretchered off, but not before flipping one more middle finger to the fans. He had quickly become a major piece to the main event of night one between WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and challenge Randy Orton. He was shoehorned into the storyline after being revealed as Orton’s mystery caller. The decision to place McAfee so high up the card has drawn major criticism online, but there’s no doubt the move has drawn a loud reaction from fans at WrestleMania.

Jelly Roll threatened to ‘check’ McAfee on the second-to-last SmackDown before WrestleMania. He ended up sticking to his words.

“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 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.

More on WrestleMania 42 Night 1 Main Event between Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton

Orton earned the match at WrestleMania 42 by outlasting five other Superstars in the Men’s Elimination Chamber match. He was originally slated to face Drew McIntyre for the title, but McIntyre dropped the Undisputed WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes on the March 6 episode of Friday Night Smackdown.

The match serves as a full-circle moment for Rhodes and Orton. Rhodes’ first ever WWE match came against Orton on the July 16, 2007 episode of Monday Night Raw. He then served as a member of Orton’s stable, The Legacy, from August 2008-early 2010 before the group split. This led to a Triple Threat match between Orton, Rhodes, and stable member Ted DiBiase Jr. (who was in attendance Saturday night) at WrestleMania XXVI, which Orton won.