Pat McAfee fires back at TST announcer’s criticism of him missing match for WWE

While sports media personality Pat McAfee has his The Pat McAfee Show appear on ESPN weekdays under a licensing agreement, that certainly hasn’t stopped him from criticizing company figures. The latest discussion there came from The Soccer Tournament announcers Sebastian Salazar and Herculez Gomez, who were calling a semifinal game involving the “CONCAFA Soccer Club” team McAfee put together (and played for at one point earlier in the tournament). They discussed if McAfee would play or if he was on the sidelines, then added an update from the truck that McAfee wasn’t there because of his WWE duties, leading to a “TST > WWE” line from Salazar:

TST announcer Sebastian Salazar needs to see more out of Pat McAfee… pic.twitter.com/JF5sX8yyjK

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 9, 2025

McAfee was not a fan of this commentary. That led to an X exchange between him and Salazar:

TST Commentary talking shit on me.. hope the CONCAFA squad shit pumps this whole tournament

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 8, 2025

I had no idea what his name was.. guys a bum on the microphone https://t.co/cxw062nugn

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 8, 2025

Big man has some thin skin! https://t.co/yjfDjSxn9h

— Sebastian Salazar (@SebiSalazarFUT) June 9, 2025

Sorry for your loss @PatMcAfeeShow 😝 https://t.co/yjfDjSxn9h

— Sebastian Salazar (@SebiSalazarFUT) June 9, 2025

Indeed, McAfee’s team lost 5-1 to the “Pumas de Alabama.” That led to this post from McAfee after the match:

Heartbroken… Still incredibly prahd of the @ConcafaPod boys. It was a great run.

The Pumas team was unbelievable.. good luck to them in the finals tomorrow

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 9, 2025

As part of his regular WWE duties, McAfee was on the Money In The Bank pay-per-view broadcast Saturday in Inglewood, California, and will be on the Monday Night RAW broadcast Monday in Phoenix. This elimination stage of the TST event is taking place across the country from those events, in Cary, North Carolina, so there is some logic behind him not attending or playing in this match.

This TST team McAfee put together has quite the lineup of players, including former U.S. internationals Brek Shea and Geoff Cameron. So it’s not like they particularly needed him on the pitch. But it is interesting to see that turn into announcer criticism, and to McAfee shooting back on social media. And that’s just his latest criticism for other figures associated with ESPN.