From the Mailbag – Baker Books Orton/McAfee/Cody!

So SK popped into the BOD After Dark Saturday night with the news that WE GOT BAKED. SK doesn’t do mailbag stuff anymore because it was wearing him out. I’m a full-on glutton for punishment at this point so I said “Send it to me, I’ll handle it.” Ladies and gentlemen, it’s TIME.

From the desk of one Mr. Baker with my notes in italics:

How they should have done the Pat MacAfee/Randy Orton twist.

1. Pat hates Cody. Sees him as a traitor that abandoned the WWE, tried to destroy it, and then waltzed back into the company and that Hunter and the McMahons and TKO took him back with open arms and made him the face of the company. And repeatedly forced Pat to STFU when he kept reminding them of Cody’s traitor status. (Cody was fired, he didn’t abandon WWE. TKO was not in charge when Cody came back, it was Vince’s decision. Calling Cody a “traitor” for being part of the genesis of AEW is quite the stretch, when an arguably much bigger WWE star in Chris Jericho became the company’s first champion, but do go on.)

2. Pat further went slowly insane watching AEW expats start showing up inside the WWE. Even the traitorous CM Punk got brought back with open arms and open hearts, while people like Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns were repeatedly villified by fans in spite of being the ones who stayed and kept the company going. (Expats like Rusev and Aleister Black who’ve done exactly JACK and SHIT since returning? CM Punk is also a traitor now, as well? Last I checked he and AEW parted company fairly acrimoniously and he was welcomed back like he had never left – also McAfee said Punk’s initial return at Survivor Series 2023 made fans “feel something” and was one of the most significant returns in WWE history. Regarding Roman and Seth, a LOT of fans loved the Bloodline and they sold a boatload of merch, and Seth has had top level programs for years and years now. But keep on going.)

3. Pat finally snapped and decided to destroy Cody, when Matt freaking Cardona managed to worm his way back into the company thanks to Cody telling Hunter to take him back. (If you think Cody got Matt Cardona rehired, I have some ocean-front property in Utah you might be interested in. You give Cody WAY too much credit in that regard. The one guy he’s actually very close to is Ricky Saints and he’s been mired in NXT for the last couple of years. Cardona and Cody are colleagues and probably friends, but Cardona has been available for a LONG time now and they also employ his wife, so they must have felt that the time was right to bring him back for a final run. Oh, and he jobs ALL the time.)

4. Pat finds proof that Randy Orton is a huge pothead, having been introduced to pot via Matt Riddle and explicitly state that Randy’s babyface behavior from the last couple of years has been the result of Randy getting high off-camera and it mellowing him out into being a goody-goody, and blackmails him over it. Because Randy’s a downlow pot smoker and his wife is super straight edge (to the point that she considers Punk a traitor for having a Pepsi logo on him) and will leave him if she ever finds out that Orton’s using. (Is this the storyline you’re pitching? I don’t think Orton’s pot usage is tied to his character work in WWE and I’m also pretty sure he’s not the only one on the roster who uses it. Orton was also out with back issues for a really long time and typically when people with his longevity return from injury they almost always are babyfaces upon return because the crowds are so happy to see them.)

5. Randy turns heel. Gives a half-hearted “I like doing evil” routine but clearly more cranky and less psychotic as usual.

6. Randy starts getting angry calls from Pat threatening to out him as a pot smoker and ruin his marriage because he’s not acting evil enough. (So Orton’s pot habit annoys McAfee to the point where he blackmails him behind the scenes or is this happening on camera? You do realize that outing someone as pot-friendly in 2026 probably makes them even more of a babyface, but okay, pot is evil and McAfee will destroy Orton’s marriage over it. Got it.)

7. Steph shows up out of the blue and gives Cody some documents and tells him that he will “owe her” as she found out that Pat’s gone rogue and is blackmailing Randy. (“Gives Cody some documents” cracked me up, I’m not going to lie. By the way, Cody drinks heavily on his podcast. He just admitted to getting so drunk on three of them that they’ll never be shown. But Orton’s pot usage is the real issue here, for sure.)

8. Cody threatens to out Pat but Pat exposes himself and reveals himself to be Randy’s partner in crime/master. (So wait, McAfee goes from a blackmail plot to now being in cahoots with Orton and also his “master”? I’m trying to imagine Randy Orton’s reaction to being told that Pat McAfee is going to be his “master”. Also, what is Cody’s motivation in any of this? His love for his pot-addled friend?)

9. Instead of Cody whining on TV, we get a showdown between the two of them where Pat goes full unhinged anti-AEW on Cody, calling him a traitor and that he should have been killed on sight when he came crawling back to the WWE. Randy sits back and watches this like a beaten dog, as we get cryptic back and forth where Cody tells Randy to stop letting Pat blackmail him and Pat demanding Randy beat up Cody. (The one time AEW was mentioned on television was by Sami Zayn like six years ago and it’s never happened since. They acknowledge New Japan, CMLL, AAA, TNA, every goddamn company under the sun, but they don’t talk about AEW and I understand why. Also, killed on sight? You do realize, AGAIN, that Cody was FIRED the first time and spent eight years away from the company most of which was in the indies/ROH/TNA? He only spent a few years in AEW, never won their main title, and Vince hired him back and put him on for his first appearance at WRESTLEMANIA where he beat Seth Rollins? If Vince was going to punish someone for being a traitor, that was the time to do it. I really don’t get the “traitor” logic here.)

10. Wrestlemania ends with Cody dropping the belt to Orton, Orton getting outed as a pot smoker by Pat when Orton refuses to cripple Cody, setting up the next phase of the Summer of Orton, with Cody teaming with Punk and Matt Cardona against Orton and a reunited “The Way” as Dexter Lumis and Johnny Gargona reunite to side with Orton/Pat against the ex-AEW Three with Dexter and Johnny sharing their hatred for said AEW exiles and aligning with Orton against them; even as we get to see Orton (his character now a canonical pothead) trying to save his marriage even as we get Dexter stalking him to keep him from getting high and Johnny serving as Orton’s life coach to get him off the wacky tobacco (which adds to Punk/Cardona not liking Dexter and Johnny, seeing them as creepy squares). (Wait, wait, wait. Orton reforms “The Way” with Gargano and Lumis to team against Cody, Punk, and Cardona? WOW. Just….WOW. This really took a turn right here.)

Bonus points: Pat forces Randy to put out several joints on Cody’s face at some point, burning it and we get Cody wearing a gold faceless mask ala Destiny and reverting back to Undashing Cody, with the running joke from Punk and Matt that they need Homelander Cody, not Irene Addler Cody to fight Pat’s newly minted Dangerous Alliance of AEW haters and gives us a PPV where Matt, Punk, and Cody wear ring gear based on Mystique (Punk), Rogue (Matt), and Destiny (Cody) for a Sisterhood of Evil Mutants special introduction for the PPV. (Baker, you magnificent bastard, you’ve done it again. Never change, friend. Keep dreaming the dreams, keep reaching for the stars. Incredible work, this.)