Pat McAfee’s absence from last night’s Raw was due to the unexpected death of his father-in-law, who was in the hospital battling an infection but was supposed to be discharged until things took a tragic turn for the worse.
A family emergency is reportedly the reason Pat McAfee missed last night’s WWE Raw.
The episode took place from Indianapolis, where McAfee lives and broadcasts The Pat McAfee Show from, but McAfee wasn’t on commentary. The Miz filled in for him for some of the episode with Michael Cole calling the rest of Raw by himself.
McAfee not being there led to speculation that, in storyline, the Wyatt Sicks were responsible for his absence. After the group debuted on Raw last week, there were multiple disruptions on The Pat McAfee Show that appeared to be caused by the Wyatt Sicks.
“My normal broadcast colleague Pat McAfee, not here tonight,” Cole said at the start of Raw. “I’m not going to read too much into that.”
There was an angle last night where a mysterious box was delivered to the commentary desk. It ended up being a VHS tape with Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy speaking about the death of Bray Wyatt.
After filling in on commentary, The Miz wrestled in last night’s main event. Miz & R-Truth lost the World Tag Team titles to Judgment Day’s Finn Balor & JD McDonagh.
McAfee had Paul “Triple H” Levesque as a guest on The Pat McAfee Show yesterday, discussing WWE’s new deal with Indiana Sports Corp to bring Royal Rumble 2025 and a future WrestleMania and SummerSlam to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Pat McAfee and the cast of The Pat McAfee Show might be the latest victims of the Wyatt Sicks.
McAfee was interviewing author Jack Carr on his show on Thursday when suddenly everyone’s attention was drawn off-set. Then the lights in the studio switched off in a manner similar to how they did at the end of Raw on Monday. No one from the show has posted to social media since.
Since the Wyatt Sicks debuted on Monday, Mika Rotunda wrote a lengthy post on Instagram detailing how proud she was to see the segment. WWE commentator Corey Graves has also said the segment moved him to tears.
“I don’t think it could have been done any better than it was Monday night,” Graves said while guest hosting on Over the Top.
Erick Rowan, Nikki Cross, and Joe Gacy both revealed their roles in the angle on social media shortly after it aired. Indi Hartwell also seemingly responded to the segment as well, posting a photo of a sign advertising for divorces. In storyline, she was married to Dexter Lumis, who is also believed to be part of the group.
George Kittle won’t be back in WWE until, at least, after his football career has ended.
The All-Pro Tight End for the San Francisco 49ers was shown ringside at WrestleMania 40 but got far more involved in the action at WrestleMania 39 last year. He delivered a clothesline to The Miz and helped Pat McAfee to victory that year. Kittle says the 49ers told him not to do something like that again.
Kittle told ESPN that team general manager John Lynch later texted him, “Hope you had fun” and “Don’t do that again.”
Kittle did not tell his team ahead of time that he would be getting physically involved in McAfee’s match. His theory was “Just don’t get hurt, and we won’t have any problems with anything.”
"I tried to use that clause to get out of dancing at my own wedding. It didn't necessarily work, and I was able to make it through without any injury."
Typical NFL contracts commonly include clauses that restrict an athlete from potentially dangerous activities such as hang-gliding or rock climbing. Patrick Mahomes’ contract even prohibits him from playing basketball.
“I tried to use that clause to get out of dancing at my own wedding,” Kittle added. “It didn’t necessarily work, and I was able to make it through without any injury.”
Kittle talks frequently about his love of wrestling. During a Monday Night Football game in Mexico City in 2022, Kittle was shown hugging AEW’s Penta El Zero Miedo, who also presented him with a lucha mask.
“I have more than ten lucha masks, and I’m most proud of my Penta red-and-gold Niners mask with my number on it,” Kittle later told SI.com. “That’s the one I wore into our Mexico City game in 2022.”
“Wrestling is the pinnacle of sports entertainment, as is football,” he continued.
This is a huge issue covering all of the latest news in-depth:
Why the Janel Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon is on hold including reaction from lawyers on both sides and an independent lawyer looks at what the breaking news means.
AEW negotiations with WBD and how they are going. The most detailed look at the state of the negotiations, what is and isn’t involved in the talks, how streaming fits in, opening it up for other companies to bid and much more. Plus we detail how the international wrestling marketplace changes that are relevant to AEW’s bottom line.
Full coverage of Double or Nothing, key angles, storylines, direction, Forbidden Door, business numbers, Adam Copeland injury, Owen Hart tournament, history of repeating stadium shows, and world title at All In.
More business notes from WrestleMania weekend.
Full King and Queen of the Ring coverage, business notes, PPV, other interest level measurements and crossover purchasers with other events.
A look at the life and career of David “Silento” Rodriguez, a deaf wrestler who had a long career.
The most detailed look at the ratings from the past week, including rankings, comparisons with a year ago, demo numbers, competition and how segments did individually.
FantasticaMania Mexico
Big AAA main feud
Update on TripleMania
Great Triple Crown match
New Japan business note
Super Juniors tournament
Giulia update
Hawaiian wrestling history
Progress Strong Style 16 tournament
MLW strategy change this week
Changes in TNA
Notes on AEW departures
Notes on AEW injuries
Young Bucks shoe business
Advance ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE events
Major UFC show coming to ABC
Rousey says why she doesn’t go to UFC events
Lots of WWE contract updates
WWE firings
WrestleMania documentary updates
International TV ratings
This week’s Wresting Observer Newsletter back issue
WWE has uploaded the end of Monday’s Raw, which featured Rey Mysterio vs. Damian Priest and an ambush from Drew McIntyre.
Continuing their storyline, Dominik Mysterio on Instagram showed Liv Morgan liking many of his Instagram posts. Morgan responded to his post by writing “I like it when u show me off.”
Pat McAfee apologized on his X account Monday after he referred to WNBA star Caitlin Clark as a “white b****”: “I shouldn’t have used “white b****” as a descriptor of Caitlin Clark. No matter the context.. even if we’re talking about race being a reason for some of the stuff happening,” he wrote. “I have way too much respect for her and women to put that into the universe. My intentions when saying it were complimentary just like the entire segment but, a lot of folks are saying that it certainly wasn’t at all. That’s 100% on me and for that I apologize… I have sent an apology to Caitlin as well. Everything else I said… still alllllll facts.”
However, during Raw on Monday, McAfee used the same term to describe Braun Strowman.
One of the biggest issues of the Observer is out this week. Tons of interesting information on current news and lots of historical figures. It’s full coverage of a weekend of major events.
Poll results on all the major shows
Historical nature of WrestleMania 40 including business notes in depth, gate, PPV, attendance, merch, it’s all there.
Ticket demand
Historical nature of Rhodes’ win
How WWE has changed due to Dwayne Johnson
A look at the booking of both nights
Internal talk on Rock vs. Rhodes
More changes from WWE to TKO
How many WWE PPV buyers watched Revolution and Hard to Kill
How the WWE/AEW dynamic has changed
Future WWE direction
A look at Dynamite with the Jack Perry/CM Punk footage and Will Ospreay interview
Whose ideas these were and what the background was
Different lines and why they were said
Full Stand & Deliver coverage
The life and times of Akebono, a Japanese cultural figure
The early 90s heyday of sumo
The Bob Sapp fight and doing kickboxing and MMA
The long pro wrestling career and his various roles
His brief WWE run
UFC 300 looked at
AEW 2024 PPV plans
New Japan Sakura Genesis coverage and next major shows
Bryan Danielson vs. Blue Panther singles match looked at
ROH Supercard of Honor coverage
Gary Shaw, a controversial figure in MMA and his role in promoting Kimbo Slice and putting women’s MMA on the map against major opposition
Jon Jones’ latest incident
A look back at Al Zinck and the heyday of pro wrestling in the Maritimes
The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week, weekly standings, placings for the night and time slot, major competition for each show, segment-by-segment numbers and more.
Rey de Parejas tournament from Dragon Gate
One of the greatest U.S. amateur wrestlers in history may retire in a few weeks, or this summer
A look at the Olympic trials
Wrestling TV show headed to Netflix
Indie Hall of Fame
The Boys answer back at charges they were fired for no-showing
International TV ratings
Ticket sales for all the upcoming WWE & AEW shows
Update on lawsuit filed by former MMA superstar against Disney, backed by Elon Musk
Vince McMahon’s stock sales, how much cash he’s made, value of current shares and how much does he still own
How much Dwayne Johnson has made for his being on the TKO Board thus far
Changes in WWE management
Why so many wrestlers today as compared to the past get busted mouths
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw, as well as the latest news in wrestling with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight.
An update on Rhea Ripley is that the injury that is significant is to her right shoulder. We don’t have details as to the severity of it past it is a significant story backstage in Montreal tonight.
Raw tonight is from Montreal with Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable for the IC title being the showcase match. They were promoting it very hard because while it should sell out, it was not sold out as of this morning and not a lock. They were at 11,679 the last time I checked and even with the big stage a real sellout should be 14,000. Dominik Mysterio vs. Andrade, Jey Uso vs. Finn Balor and Chelsea Green & Piper Niven vs. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance is scheduled, plus the return of Sheamus and Cody Rhodes is there.
Pat McAfee mentioned that he had forgotten where he put his passport and if he hadn’t found it he wouldn’t have been able to come to tonight’s show, but he did find it.
Smackdown doing an 0.76 on Friday night was the highest rated network show between Monday and Friday. Only once in history has a pro wrestling show been No. 1 for the week. The Saturday and Sunday numbers aren’t in yet. The only show as of Friday higher was the Friday afternoon coverage of The Masters on ESPN that did 0.78. The Saturday and Sunday Masters coverage (golf) will be much higher. But nobody expects Smackdown to beat a sports event of that level.
The Friday Rampage number of 0.08 tied its all-time low. The main event was Jay White vs. Matt Sydal, and that’s not a television main event no matter how good an actual wrestler both area. Rampage still beat Major League Baseball, NASCAR Trucks racing and PFL head-to-head. I guess that tells you more about those shows.
While nobody expected them to compete, with the seedings announced for the Olympic trials this weekend, Gable Steveson and Tamyra Mensah-Stock of WWE are not listed as competing. Both had qualified. Mensah-Stock has been wrestling on some NXT shows while Steveson hasn’t wrestled in the past few weeks that I’m aware of. Almost all the best American wrestlers, men and women, are competing for spots on the three Olympic teams in tournaments on Friday and Saturday at Penn State. The USA Network will be airing prime time both nights, and Peacock will be airing all the matches throughout both days. The only wrestlers we’re aware of under a WWE deal are Mason Parris, who has been seeded into the finals by winning the nationals, and Greg Kerkvliet, who seeded No. 3 in that tournament where the winner faces Parris in 2/3 bouts.
Jeff Jarrett and Satnam Singh were at today’s AAA press conference in Monterrey to promote the 4/27 TripleMania show at the baseball stadium. Jarrett’s role isn’t clear but Singh will team with Parker Boudreaux & QT Marshall & Sam Adonis as evil foreigners against Psycho Clown & Laredo Kid & Octagon Jr. & mystery partner.
The Chris Adams episode of Dark Side of the Ring airs tomorrow night. I’ve heard about this one for more than a year as an amazing episode. The guy who killed Adams in self-defense was talked with for the show..
The CCW 20th anniversary show is Friday night in Port St. Lucie, FL a the the MIDFLORIDA Events Center with Matt Riddle, QT Marshall, Gangrel, Brian Cage and Bill Alfonso scheduled
Randy Orton vs. Solo Sikoa is scheduled as the main event for the house shows this coming weekend. Jade Cargill will also be wrestling on the shows and Bayley vs. Iyo Sky is scheduled.
Michael Elgin wrestled on yesterday’s CIW show in Toledo, OH. Elgin & Kaden Monahan & Calvin Coco beat Malice & Great Akuma & Jun Hado in the main event (thanks to Leonard Brand)
WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque has pivoted his answer when asked about what the competition is for his company in addition to sharing views on lost free agents that could be taken as a subtle dig at their work ethic.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday prior to this weekend’s WrestleMania 40, Levesque was asked by Michael Cole about the differences he sees between the Attitude Era and today.
Levesque said they were fighting for their lives and talked about WCW “kicking their ass” without mentioning them by name.
“We were building up against something. Right now, we’re up against ourselves. We’re up against the Attitude Era, we’re up against the Ruthless Aggression era, whatever you want to call it. The best of the absolute best of WWE…that’s what we’re working against,” he stated, adding that his job now in order to make everyone successful is to make sure no one gets complacent.
"When the attitude era was first coming to be we were fighting for our lives..
Without saying AEW, McAfee attempted to allude to how Levesque’s competition comments might be taken. Levesque said he wasn’t trying to cause any controversy and that facts are facts.
In past interviews, and especially when asked about AEW, Levesque has answered that “everything is competition.”
He did throw a subtle dig toward AEW when asked about WWE’s free agent recruiting process and signing talent. He said he has people like William Regal that help him keep track of those in the business, saying he knows everyone who is out there, what their potential is, and how good they are.
He said just because someone succeeds somewhere else “doesn’t meant they will succeed in the big time,” using an NFL/college football analogy.
He then said WWE is “a different game, a different world,” followed by this quote:
“When I see people that come out of trying to make it and then they pick the job where they go, “Well, they work less, the schedule is lighter…alright, then I’m glad I didn’t get you because if you’re not in it for the grind at that point early in your your career, you have no business being here.”
To no big surprise, undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is a big fan of Paul Heyman.
Reigns appeared on Friday’s Pat McAfee Show to promote his appearance on Friday’s SmackDown and was asked about Heyman’s impending induction into the WWE Hall of Fame and whether he should induct himself.
While Reigns didn’t have any real insight on who should do it, he did have plenty of positive things to say about his “wise man.”
“Whoever does (the induction) needs to be themselves and tell the truth because Paul is an incredible man…an unbelievable man. What he’s done in this business and his personal life, which I know well because I’m friends with him and work with him…I have the utmost respect for him. No one deserves a hall of fame induction more than him,” he stated.
Reigns then joked that Heyman is a “performance enhancer” and that “Paul’s a PED.”
“He knows what it’s like to be on the marquee. He’s worked around (the business) and in it his whole life is seems like,” later equating Heyman to being like a director who knows what to say to get an actor ready to do a monologue.
McAfee then told a story about how he was backstage preparing for a promo toward Austin Theory and was trying to figure it out. He said Heyman walked up to him and made a few suggestions on phrases that he ended up using all of. McAfee said he told Heyman he wanted to publicly acknowledge him helping, but Heyman told him he could hold off to some other day if he wanted.
Aside from the above, the rest of the interview was mainly kayfabe with a few highlights:
Reigns said that what John Cena has done is “GOAT-level generationally” but that for him, he is more about quality over quantity in terms of title reigns and the impact of those reigns.
“I will always take the quality of this reign over 14,15,16 times every day of the week,” he said.
On why fans want to see The Rock vs. Reigns and assume it will happen, he said that one of them is dominating Hollywood while the other is dominating WWE so it makes sense why people want to see the match.
“That was the endgame. Let me go and make the final statement. Put the stamp of approval and seal the deal, If I beat The Rock, ain’t no one ever questioning what I’ve done here. Cody (Rhodes) took that from me. He took that storybook ending.”
Reigns will confront Rhodes on Friday’s SmackDown in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the build to WrestleMania XL continues.
Pat McAfee has returned to the WWE commentary team full-time and will be calling Raw every week.
McAfee kicked off Monday’s WWE Raw with an entrance and joined Michael Cole at the commentary desk where Cole announced that he and McAfee will be calling Raw together each week going forward.
WWE has yet to announce what the McAfee news means for Wade Barrett who had been calling Raw with Cole. Barrett & Cole were the SmackDown announce team from October 2022 until August 2023, then called Raw weekly from August until last week.
Cole and McAfee called SmackDown together weekly from April 2021 until September 2022 when McAfee left his position to join ESPN’s College GameDay football coverage. McAfee signed a multi-year contract extension with WWE in the summer of 2022.
Since leaving the commentary team full-time, McAfee has sporadically made appearances including as a commentator at Royal Rumble & Fastlane in 2023, as well as at this past Saturday’s Royal Rumble. McAfee also wrestled The Miz at WrestleMania in 2023, and was an entrant in this year’s Rumble match where he eliminated himself from the bout.
The Pat McAfee show began in 2019 as a radio and video program, later switching to a video show streaming daily on YouTube. The show moved to ESPN in September 2023 where it airs daily.
Pat McAfee later appeared as a short-lived surprise entrant in the men’s Royal Rumble match. McAfee entered the ring but almost immediately eliminated himself after going face-to-face with Omos and Bron Breakker.
For the second straight year, Pat McAfee dropped by the Royal Rumble to do commentary.
Saturday night’s event opened with McAfee joining Michael Cole and Corey Graves at the commentary desk. It was said that McAfee would be a special guest commentator for the night. The show then opened with the women’s Royal Rumble match.
McAfee’s appearance on commentary at the 2023 Royal Rumble was a surprise even to Michael Cole. This time, Cole said he knew in advance that McAfee would be there. McAfee had originally been discussed as an entrant for last year’s men’s Rumble match but wasn’t able to get in ring shape due to his schedule.
From April 2021 to September 2022, McAfee worked as a full-time commentator on SmackDown. He departed the role after joining ESPN’s College GameDay. McAfee later expanded his relationship with ESPN when he brought his sports talk show to the network.
McAfee has remained part of WWE despite leaving commentary. He appeared at Fastlane and WrestleMania last year, along with showing up alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on SmackDown last September.
Cole and Graves called Friday night’s episode of SmackDown together. Kevin Patrick, who had been Graves’ broadcast partner on SmackDown, was released by WWE earlier in the week.
Garrett and I just did our week in review talking about the New Japan angles, The Rock vs. Roman Reigns, Mercedes Mone, Kevin Dunn, AEW business and other stuff from the new issue of the Observer. Bryan and I did a show last night covering Wrestle Kingdom and will be back Sunday covering Smackdown, Collision, and New Year’s Dash.
Francis Ngannou will box Anthony Joshua on 3/9 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I explained on the show today how this fight happening as a major fight shows how much Saudi Arabia has changed the landscape. After Tyson Fury vs. Ngannou bombed so badly on PPV, the idea a fight like this would be made that also likely won’t do business on PPV but where the participants will have huge guarantees wasn’t there because it wouldn’t have made economic sense. But now that doesn’t matter because Saudi Arabia will make it make economic sense.
Joshua is opening at -500 because almost all betting money was coming in on Joshua.
A correction from yesterday’s issue as the 2/24 AEW Collision/Rampage taping is in Springfield, MO, not Springfield, MA.
Smackdown tonight from a sold out Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC:
LA Knight vs. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton – winner faces Roman Reigns for the title at the Royal Rumble
Iyo Sky vs. Michin for the WWE women’s title
Kevin Owens vs. Santos Escobar – winner faces Logan Paul for the U.S. title at the Royal Rumble
Pretty Deadly vs. Butch & ?
Reigns and Logan Paul appear on the show. There has been talk of the return of Authors of Pain with Paul Ellering tonight. Also backstage include Drew McIntyre, Rhea Ripley and Ivy Nile.
Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. on TNT
Matt & Jeff Hardy & Mark Briscoe vs. Butcher & Blade & Kip Sabian
We’re looking for your thoughts on the New Japan Tokyo Dome show and the Jan. 2 NOAH show, thumbs up, down or middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
We’re looking for reports on these weekend shows:
Smackdown tonight in Vancouver, BC (dark matches only)
NXT tonight in Melbourne, FL
AEW Collision tapings tomorrow in Charlotte, NC (ROH and dark match reports)
WWE house show tomorrow in Spokane, WA
NXT house show tomorrow in Sebring, FL
WWE house show Sunday in Wenatchee, WA
We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]
There is another big show tonight at Arena Mexico. The gimmick is that the next three Fridays they are doing rematches of the best matches of 2023. Mascara Dorada vs. Templario in a 2/3 fall match headlines, plus Tessa Blanchad is on the show and the semi is Stephanie Vaquer vs. Lluvia.
Pat McAfee accused ESPN exec Norby Williamson of attempting to sabotage him by leaking negative ratings information to the New York Post The Post wrote a story saying that McAfee wasn’t drawing good enough numbers to justify all the bad press he gets with his show, which started on the station in September. McAfee praised ESPN itself, but said there are people actively trying to sabotage us, and mentioned Williamson’s name, calling him a rat and an enemy in our own camp. This all stemmed from Aaron Rodgers going on his show and implying that Jimmy Kimmel was associated with Jefrey Epstein. Kimmel denied that and that led to McAfe and Rodgers getting heavily criticized and ESPN apologizing for what happened. But ESPN today sent out a press release praising McAfee’s numbers. This led to a lot of TV criticism because they used Tik Tok and social media views in the release which television stations rarely do because they are measured so differently.
Neon, who may end up being the next big thing out of Mexico, will be on the next two Fridays. The 1/19 show has Neon & Futuro vs. Magnus & Rugido in a match that was incredible when it first happened. Mascara Dorada & Neon will also be a tag team in the Gran Alternativa tournament, so this may be Neon’s start of a meaningful push.
A Go Fund Me has been set up for the family of Kurtis Chapman aka Mad Kurt, who passed away this past week. All money will go directly to the family to help in this difficult time. In hours, they had 12,960 pounds donated when the goal was 5,000, with the top donators being Will Ospreay (2,000 pounds), Dan Moloney (1,000 pounds) and Chris Jericho (1,000 pounds).
Atsushi Onita was announced for the 4/5 Battleground Championship Wrestling show at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
Impact+ is now called TNA+
Lots of news coming out of New Year’s Dash today, with these among the matches set up:
Tetsuya Naito vs. Sanada for the IWGP World title
Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada (now official for 1/13 in San Jose)
Jon Moxley vs. Shingo Takagi no DQ (1/13 in San Jose)
United Empire with Will Ospreay vs. Bullet Club War Dogs in a cage match in Osaka at the New Beginning show
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Matt Riddle for the Tv title
Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Okada & Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii vs. TMDK for the trios titles
Desperado vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru for the jr. title
Logan Paul announced a buyback program involving his CryptoZoo game. The game has led to a class action lawsuit involving Paul and his former business partners. Paul said he would make things right one year ago and now announced he’s buying back Base Egg and Base Animal CryptoZoo NFT’s for their original purchase price through 2/8.
The Discovery Channel is bringing back a six episode run of Big Little Brawlers, about mini pro wrestlers that will air at 10 pm. Tuesday nights starting this week. It’s a reality show about wrestlers in the Micro Wrestling Federation in Tennessee.
CFFC announced its first Muay Thai event for 1/27 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
Fubu Sports announced live streaming of Xtreme Fighting 13 from Long Beach tomorrow night for free at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Defy returns to Washington Hall in Seattle on 2/9 featuring the debut of Mustafa Ali.
Tickets for the New Japan show on 4/12 at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago go on sale a week from today and there will be a pre-sale Thursday with the code NJPW.
Chris Weidman faces Bruno Silva on a 3/30 UFC show in Atlantic City at Boardwalk Hall.
With Fastlane taking place in Indianapolis, Pat McAfee made a surprise appearance at the show.
McAfee appeared prior to the tag team match between John Cena & LA Knight and The Bloodline (Jimmy Uso & Solo Sikoa). McAfee cut a promo, introduced Cena, and then joined Michael Cole and Corey Graves on commentary.
Indianapolis is McAfee’s adopted hometown. He played for the Indianapolis Colts for the entirety of his NFL career.
McAfee also voiced the opening video for Fastlane.
McAfee traveled to Indianapolis after doing ESPN’s College GameDay earlier on Saturday. College GameDay was in Texas for the rivalry game between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners.
In September 2022, McAfee left his role as a full-time WWE commentator due to his College GameDay commitments. McAfee has remained part of WWE despite no longer doing weekly commentary.
McAfee also made a surprise appearance on WWE programming last month. He returned on SmackDown alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Pat McAfee says his WWE SmackDown appearance on Friday came together quickly.
An unadvertised segment featuring The Rock, McAfee, and Austin Theory opened Friday night’s show in Denver. Rock and McAfee had been on Colorado State campus earlier in the day as McAfee’s show was being filmed on location there and Rock appeared as a guest.
“Got there 5:34 local time cause traffic from Boulder to Denver was not great. The show starts 6 local time,” McAfee said on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday. “A lot of people are talking about, ‘How long did everything come together?’ It’s like, real quick, everything came together real, real quick.”
“What an honor to be back there,” he continued. “Absolute honor to be back. Great to see everybody. I thank them mightily for the opportunity to do that.”
McAfee also addressed the Denver crowd’s reaction when The Rock made his surprise appearance on the show.
“That’s attitude era, that’s way back in the day,” McAfee said of the crowd’s reaction. “The Rock hadn’t been back in four years. This Denver crowd was loud to begin with, like, when I went out there, I heard em, I’m like, ‘This is a louder crowd than it normally is'”
“What a night, dude. I’m so thankful that I was even asked to be apart of that.”
The Rock responded to McAfee’s comments on social media, writing:
Honor was mine as well @PatMcAfeeShow Helluva Friday we had. Chopped it up with you and the boys Friday morning on your show (and drank tequila) and Friday night we rock the house in Denver. “You are..” “An asshole..” for 10min straight
Honor was mine as well @PatMcAfeeShow 🥃 Helluva Friday we had. Chopped it up with you and the boys Friday morning on your show (and drank tequila) and Friday night we rock the house in Denver. “You are..” “An asshole..” for 10min straight 😄👊🏾 @wwehttps://t.co/UXlQ3An85Q
Before appearing on SmackDown on Friday, Rock told McAfee on The Pat McAfee Show that a match vs. Roman Reigns was, at one time, locked in for WrestleMania 39. He also didn’t rule out the match happening next year at WrestleMania 40.
The ratings for SmackDown this week saw increases in total viewership and the 18-49 demo. It averaged 2.569 million viewers on Fox and a 0.70 rating in the key demo.
A new era for WWE began with one of the biggest stars in company history making a surprise appearance.
On the first SmackDown since Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returned for a segment with Pat McAfee and Austin Theory. McAfee was also on the show as a surprise return.
McAfee kicked off the episode until being interrupted by Theory. When Theory claimed that SmackDow was his show, McAfee told him that would never be the case. McAfee said this was The People’s Show — which brought out The Rock to a massive pop.
Theory pointed out that The Rock and Austin were sharing the ring together again, but this time it was a “real ass kicker” instead of boring old Stone Cold. The Rock led the crowd in a chant calling Theory an assh*le.
The segment resulted in The Rock dropping Theory with a spinebuster and giving him the People’s Elbow. The Rock then instructed McAfee to give Theory a People’s Elbow of his own.
There was also an interaction with The Rock and John Cena on SmackDown. The former rivals shook hands and hugged during a backstage segment.
SmackDown took place in Denver last night. McAfee was already in Colorado in advance of this Saturday’s edition of ESPN College GameDay. The Rock was a guest on The Pat McAfee Show earlier in the day on Friday.
The Rock and Pat McAfee made a surprise appearance to open Friday’s SmackDown.
Pat McAfee opened Friday’s show but was interrupted by Theory, who came out and insulted the people in Colorado and that SmackDown was his show. McAfee then brought out The Rock, who said it was his show and the people’s show. After Rock had the crowd call Theory an “ass****”, he warned Theory he was going to lay him out. The two briefly brawled before The Rock hit the spinebuster and the people’s elbow. The segment ended with McAfee hitting a people’s elbow of his own.
THE MOST ELECTRIFYING MOVE IN ALL OF ENTERTAINMENT
In a backstage segment that took place later in the show, The Rock and McAfee were talking when John Cena walked up to Rock. He welcomed Rock home as the two hugged.
The Rock has only made sporadic appearances in WWE over the years, with his last high-profile appearance being in 2019 for SmackDown’s 20th anniversary. It was on that show he and Becky Lynch laid out Baron Corbin.
Appearing on Pat McAfee’s show earlier on Friday, The Rock mentioned that at one point, a match between him and Roman Reigns was penciled in for this year’s WrestleMania, but it didn’t come into fruition. He did mention that next year’s WrestleMania would be in Philadelphia.
Pat McAfee says he’d like to return to WWE but the timing hasn’t worked out.
McAfee said he misses the company “every day” during a recent Q&A session on Instagram. However, the 36-year-old cited the growth of his business as why he has only appeared at The Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 39 since leaving his SmackDown commentator position last fall.
“I had the time of my f***king life in there, loved it, every single moment,” McAfee said of his WWE experience. “But now my business has gotten to a point – and we’re very lucky for this, I’m very lucky for this and fortunate for this, we’ve worked our ass off – but I’m incredibly busy. And we’ve got 15 employees over here that are having babies and building houses. It’s a tough thing to deal with mentally because emotionally I want to be there, but I just can’t timing-wise but we will figure it out.”
McAfee worked as a commentator for WWE SmackDown from April 2021 until leaving for ESPN College GameDay last September. He returned to the commentary position for one night at the 2023 Royal Rumble and then wrestled The Miz at WrestleMania 39 in an impromptu match.
