The Road to WrestleMania 42 ended up being less about WrestleMania and more about celebrity involvement, with Pat McAfee's inclusion into the buildup between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton's match leaving many with a sour taste in their mouth. It has since been confirmed that McAfee's involvement was largely the product of TKO executives asking him to be included in WrestleMania, leaving many to accuse WWE's parent company of getting way too involved with the creative aspect of WWE's day to day.But that may not actually be something that's happening all too often. On Tuesday's "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer noted that while TKO did interfere in WWE's booking during the WrestleMania build, it's not something they do often."They really don't do a lot [of interference]," Meltzer said. "But as I was told, they don't do it much, but they seem to always do it at the most inopportune times."Meltzer noted that TKO could be gearing up again to make creative suggestions when it came to the involvement of ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, who has been rumored to get involved with WWE over the last month. Unlike the McAfee situation, however, Meltzer believes WWE personnel will be far more positive about Smith's coming in."We haven't seen anything with Stephen A. Smith, yet, although boy, that name has been talked about, and I know it's been serious talk," Meltzer said. "Put it this way, a lot of people who were not happy about Pat McAfee, in fact, are favorable to Stephen A., as far as internally it goes. But you know, we'll have to wait and see. It's like, we haven't had, other than Lil Yachty, he's around a lot. But other than that, we haven't had any celebrities since right after WrestleMania I guess."If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
