Bully Ray On Pat McAfee's WWE SmackDown Promo: 'I Don't Think That's A Great Message'

In a move that surprised the masses, WWE and ESPN personality Pat McAfee revealed himself as Randy Orton's mystery caller on "WWE SmackDown." Along with it, McAfee also fired off a series of grievances about the current WWE product, which he claimed to share with Orton.

Like many fans, WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray found himself puzzled by the decision to knight McAfee as the messenger of those complaints. The complaints themselves don't seem to be doing WWE any favors either, though, according to Ray.

"Pat says that the business has turned to s***. Randy says it's gone in a direction that nobody likes. They're both s****ing on the current product. They're both sh****ing on creative. I don't think that's a great message," Ray said on "Busted Open Radio." "I don't know why you would want to tell the world that the product that the WWE is currently giving you, which, by the way is showing signs of slowing here and there, especially with ticket sales for WrestleMania.

"You're going to tell the people what you have been paying, a lot of money for is s***? I'm not sure that's a direction I would go in now. If I'm going to talk about something in that moment in time, I'm going to talk about Cody Rhodes. Not the product being s***."

After delivering a low blow to Orton's WrestleMania 42 opponent, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, McAfee stated that both he and "The Viper" despised WWE's present-day creative direction. McAfee particularly took issue with seeing "two five-five guys do a 45-minute Iron Man match 10 weeks straight" for no apparent reason while Orton, a 26-year veteran and decorated champion, was available for screen-time. McAfee also questioned why WrestleMania 42 wasn't sold out, especially when Orton was on the card.

Instead of taking verbal digs at WWE's creative team and the imminent WrestleMania event, Ray believes McAfee would have fared better by aiming them at Rhodes. As an example, Ray noted that McAfee could have disparaged Rhodes' quality as a champion or as the face of WWE. Rhodes regained the Undisputed WWE Championship last month, with Orton, his former mentor, then turning on him en route to their title clash at WrestleMania 42.

"Busted Open Radio" co-host Dave LaGreca called the potential consequences of McAfee's involvement and statements toward the feud "crazy." Still, LaGreca admitted that a part of him is intrigued by them.

According to Ray, the overall interest level amongst fans is likely dependent on the follow-up storyline content seen on the remaining episodes of "WWE Raw" and "SmackDown" ahead of WrestleMania. "What other type of follow-up can you possibly think of other than Pat McAfee or Randy Orton talking about the same thing? Is there more depth to this?

"So you want to say you're intrigued by it, you're interested by it. If a monkey ran into the ring and threw s*** into the fifth row, I'm interested in it. I want to see what the monkey does next. Okay, so what are they going to say next? When we spoke last Friday, we said this surprise, this reveal, whoever it is, needs to encourage people to want to pay to watch the product more. As of right now, with the perception of what went on, do you think people want to pay to watch the product more?" Ray asked, to which LaGreca responded negatively.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.