Pat McAfee reportedly made the decision for his WWE storyline to end

Pat McAfee is the one who made the call for his ill-received storyline partnering with Randy Orton to end.

WWE had planned for McAfee to team with Randy Orton against Jelly Roll & Cody Rhodes at Backlash in May according to a report from Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer. Prior to Orton facing Cody for the WWE Undisputed Championship at WrestleMania 42, McAfee made the promise to leave WWE forever on Smackdown if Orton lost to Rhodes at WrestleMania and the tag match was pulled.

Jelly Roll and McAfee were both aware of the negative reaction of fans towards their involvement in the Orton vs. Cody storyline according to the report. The exact reason why they pulled out isn’t known, but it is believed they pulled out because of the reaction of the fans and perhaps internal pressure from wrestlers and executives pushing to move past this controversial way the McAfee “heel turn” distracted counter-productively from the story the wrestlers were telling. Cody made his feelings known, a politically safe way, in media interviews in the lead-up to WrestleMania.

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Jelly Roll posted a vlog on Wednesday that showed him being driven backstage at WrestleMania that showed him telling McAfee that they should get back to doing what they’re good at. “I had one goal tonight and I kind of succeeded,” said Jelly Roll. “Pat, I love you, man. Neither one of us had any business here. I say we get back to what we’re good at. Man, even though I’m not actually really good at anything. But you’re great at something, so go do it. I’ll keep searching for what I’m going to do when I grow up.”

Cody Rhodes started a program with C.M. Punk on Monday on Raw. The two had an in-ring exchange on the mic that ended with Rhodes offering Punk a future shot at the WWE Undisputed Championship.

PWTorch has confirmed independently that McAfee chose to opt out after experiencing intesnse negative reactions from his involvement.