Pat McAfee teases ‘massive surprise’ announcement for WWE SmackDown

Pat McAfee is teasing a massive surprise announcement in store for SmackDown on Friday night on social media. This comes with just over a week to go before WrestleMania 42.

McAfee has 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 appears to be another wrench in the storyline planned for Friday night.

“WrestleMania Saturday Night is gonna be The most Historic Night in the HISTORY of sports,” McAfee wrote on X. “SO MUCH ON THE LINE. Multi-Generational pressure comes to a head. Randy will prevail… for all of us. See also… I have a MASSIVE SURPRISE to announce tomorrow night. You’ll start thanking me and Randy soon enough for all of this.”

What that surprise could be remains to be seen. McAfee was the last person anyone expected Orton’s mystery caller to be, so it could literally be anything.

McAfee has already promised that he would never show up in professional wrestling in any capacity should Rhodes retain his championship against Orton. Orton won the Elimination Chamber to earn a shot at the WWE title. The belt was held by Drew McIntyre at the time, but putting the belt on Rhodes set up a main event title match two decades in the making.

Orton turned heel and has since aligned himself with McAfee, a move that has been criticized as a part of WWE’s influx of outside stars during WrestleMania season. This is typically the case, but more celebrities are being used to influence storylines such as McAfee, rapper Lil Yachty, singer Jelly Roll and streamer IShowSpeed. Jelly Roll and IShowSpeed will be in matches themselves, with Speed teaming up with controversial influencer turned WWE superstar, Logan Paul.

Still, McAfee, in character, is preaching that Orton becoming the next WWE champion would “save the business for future generations of wrestling fans.” A win would give Orton a 15th world championship under the WWE banner — third all-time behind Ric Flair (16) and John Cena (17).

“My daughter and baby boy on the way are gonna have a WWE that is thriving. A WWE that is the greatest form of entertainment on Earth, bar none, because the top of the company is gonna be exactly what it’s supposed to be,” McAfee wrote.

“A man (Orton)sent DIRECTLY from the Wrestling AND Sports Entertainment Gods will be properly leading the business once again. It is my honor to serve the future generations of wrestling fans as I motivate the (GOAT), Randy Orton to not only become 15-TIME WORLD CHAMPION but also, become a man who saved his family’s business.”