Bully Ray Wonders If WWE Lost Confidence In Cody Rhodes-Randy Orton Main Event

When it was first announced back in March, Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton for Rhodes' Undisputed WWE Championship was among the most anticipated WrestleMania 42 matches, particularly due to the history between Rhodes and Orton. Since then, however, the feud has since been criticized by many due to the inclusion of Pat McAfee as Orton's ally, a decision that reportedly came from TKO executive Ari Emanuel and not WWE creative.

And after a week of giving it a shot, it appears Bully Ray has had enough of this storyline as well. On Tuesday's "Busted Open Radio," the two-time Hall of Famer lamented how the Rhodes-Orton storyline, one Bully had been looking forward to for years, had come up so short, especially when he feels the rest of the Mania card has come together well.

"Listen, going into WrestleMania this year, we are getting some really good stories," Bully said. "I think we get off on this tangent because we're still p****d off that a beautiful story like Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton got tampered with for no good reason. No good reason."

Bully also admitted that he was confused by WWE/TKO deciding to get so heavily involved in the Rhodes-Orton storyline, while they were content to let other major feuds, including CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns, go on with no interference. He believes that it's a sign that the Rhodes vs. Orton feud wasn't as highly thought of by executives as it was by wrestling fans.

"It's weird, it's like 'Well, why didn't you f**k with Roman and Punk?" Bully said. "Why'd you leave them alone, but you decided to get all involved in Cody vs. Randy? It's weird...Maybe they didn't have any confidence in that main event of Randy vs. Cody."

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

It is very rare that Bully Ray and I are on the same wavelength, and this is another one of those times. I don't think anyone will argue that the Cody Rhodes-Randy Orton storyline could've been handled better, but WWE/TKO executives having no confidence in the match? That seems to be a reach. For one, if they had no confidence, there were at least several other potential matches (Rhodes facing Drew McIntyre again, Rhodes facing Jacob Fatu, or a multi-man match) that WWE could've gone with instead. They chose Rhodes vs. Orton instead, which would suggest they had confidence. If anything, the attempts to give this storyline a jolt with the involvement of McAfee is even further proof that WWE, TKO, or both had confidence in the match, and were only trying to make it bigger.

So I cannot accept that theory from Bully. What I can accept, however, is that WWE has just completely and utterly fumbled the ball in their efforts to make it bigger. Whether you were invested in the Rhodes-Orton history or not, that was a far simpler, and more logical, path to take that I feel would've left most fans both satisfied with the build and more excited to see the match. Instead, they've been given Pat McAfee as arguably the most disappointing mystery reveal of all time, along with a bunch of worked shoot promos from McAfee, Rhodes, and even people not in this angle like CM Punk where they talk about the Attitude Era, Disco Inferno, and Paul Boesch. Meanwhile, Orton has receded into the background; you could argue he's now less important in this program than Punk, a guy who, as Dante from "Clerks" would say, isn't supposed to be here. It's not a problem of confidence; it's a problem of booking. I don't think WWE ever lost faith in Rhodes vs. Orton; I think they had too much faith in it, and as a result turned something that could've been so simple into a folly.