Pat McAfee responds to CM Punk, announces WWE WrestleMania 42 Saturday sale

Pat McAfee is not done talking.

McAfee took time on Friday’s SmackDown to address the response from his reveal last week, first taking aim at CM Punk, who called out the famed ESPN host on Monday. McAfee, upset about being called ‘Pat MAGAfee,’ highlighted Punk’s comments from Monday asking WWE to lower ticket prices so families could watch him defeat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.

“When that TKO merch check comes through, which account does it go through? Does it go to the needy wrestling families that can’t afford WrestleMania tickets? Or….I have a sneaking suspicion that money from the TKO merch account goes right into the bank account titled ‘I’m sorry Saudi Arabia,” McAfee said. Punk, who had a history of critical comments regarding WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia before his return to the promotion, took time to apologize to the country prior to his match against John Cena last year.

McAfee then addressed WrestleMania’s high ticket prices. He announced he had talked to Ram, a sponsor for WrestleMania, and announced that a 25% off sale for WrestleMania Saturday would start on Friday and run through the end of Monday’s Raw.

“WrestleMania Sunday night? A**. I wouldn’t recommend anybody spend money on that,” he said.

Cody Rhodes came out and told McAfee that these people were not marks but customers, borrowing a line from famed promoter Paul Boesch. He told McAfee to go home. McAfee responded by calling him a fake and a cosplay champion. As Rhodes tried to leave, Randy Orton appeared on the screen, showing he had taken out Jelly Roll backstage. He dragged Jelly to the stage. This was a ploy for McAfee to cause a distraction, leading to a two-on-one beatdown. The segment ended with McAfee stealing Rhodes’ WWE Championship.

The next segment saw McAfee with the WWE Championship leaving the arena with Orton. But he had one last message for fans upset by his actions.

“Hey IWC and wrestling fans, marks if you will…you’re welcome,” he said before driving away.

New Pollstar data reveals WWE WrestleMania 41 ticket revenue

Image: WWE

New reporting has revealed what WWE brought in for their record-breaking ticket revenue for 2025’s WrestleMania 41.

The article from Wrestlenomics/Post Wrestling, using data from live event trade publication Pollstar, showed that last year’s two-night event at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas generated a total of $66,074,558 for WWE.

While there wasn’t a breakdown of each night, Brandon Thurston surmised that even with a 50/50 split, $33 million per night would surpass any wrestling show in history.

Last August, Thurston reported that the Las Vegas Stadium Authority provided documentation showing Saturday’s attendance at 58,538 and Sunday’s at 60,103 for a combined 118,641, more than what Pollstar reported (113,412) which Thurston wrote suggests “the stadium authority’s attendance included more than just tickets sold” in their tally.

The news comes on the heels of last week’s news that this year’s WrestleMania, also taking place at Allegiant Stadium, is running behind last year’s show in terms of ticket sales, leading the company to reportedly discuss some new strategies — one of those being discounted tickets in a limited time sale.