Cody Rhodes compares Pat McAfee to Disco Inferno on WWE SmackDown

Cody Rhodes has vowed revenge on Pat McAfee, who suddenly has become the focus of a WrestleMania main event.

McAfee had opened SmackDown by returning to WWE and giving Rhodes a low blow, revealing himself as the mystery man who had been on the phone with Randy Orton in recent weeks.

Rhodes returned to the ring shortly before the main event, laying out Kit Wilson with a crossroads and cutting a fiery promo.

“We got all dressed up in St. Louis tonight to find out who Randy Orton was talking to on the phone,” Rhodes said. “And color me surprised, it was Pat McAfee. That’s like if Scott Hall and Kevin Nash talked about the third man in the NWO, and instead of Hulk Hogan, it was Disco Inferno.”

This week marks the eight-year anniversary of Rhodes’ burial of Inferno on social media. “Stop,” he wrote to Inferno in 2018. “You know nothing. You have drawn 0 dollars. No fan has ever left a show thinking about you. You were lucky to be a juiced up double-lifer ‘over with the boys’ type in an era where you hid in plain sight coasting on others’ success. Couldn’t hang then, can’t get booked now.”

Rhodes continued to insult McAfee as Orton’s hometown crowd booed him. “Pat, you stoner, grifter, Logan Paul without muscles, human hat rack, fly by night, you’re gonna get your receipt,” he said. “And boy I felt it. And I should have, you’re a former NFL punter. But Pat, you and everyone who represents you, and I know who I’m talking to, can kiss my ass.”

Rhodes then referred to his six-year absence from WWE. “Oh no, is that too far?” he asked. “What are you going to do, fire me? It sure worked out for you the last time.”

Rhodes closed his promo by addressing Orton—who, in case you had forgotten, will be his opponent at WrestleMania. “It’s as simple as this,” he said. “It’s a wrestling match with 20 years of history, with the two very best wrestlers to do it. And I am hearing it, I am. I am hearing those voices inside my head, finally. But you don’t want to here what they have to say.”

Rhodes was largely booed by the crowd in Orton’s home town of St. Louis.