The polarizing nature of Pat McAfee isn’t limited to the sports world.
While the former All-Pro punter is beloved by many pro wrestling fans as the lead color commentator on WWE Raw, he also has his detractors. That was evident in the voting for this year’ Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards, in which McAfee placed second behind Booker T in the “worst television announcer” category.
On an episode of Wrestling Observer Radio earlier this week, WON publisher and editor Dave Meltzer discussed the awards with co-host Bryan Alvarez. And while Alvarez seemed to agree with the voters who casted ballots for McAfee, Meltzer took a different stance.
“I actually like Pat McAfee. I could see why people don’t. But I just find he’s enthusiastic. He’s professional,” Meltzer said. “I hate to use this term: he is so far above this, that the fact that he actually does it just shows how much he loves pro wrestling. Because he’s making so much money. And he doesn’t need to do this. He’s got a family. You know I mean? It’s like, he’s just doing it because he likes to do it. And more power to him. If you love wrestling and you love going out there — that’s why I really like him.”
The longtime wrestling journalist went on to explain that McAfee’s passion for pro wrestling is evident, even if it’s not realistic for him to be as engaged as his readers are.
“I can tell watching him, this guy loves wrestling,” he said. “And sometimes he’s not in on all the angles, especially when he first comes back after the college football season because he has to be immersed in college football during the college football season because that’s his job. And plus, he has to have a working knowledge of every sport because of his real job. So he can’t live and die pro wrestling, he doesn’t have the time to do it. But he’s still really enthusiastic. I like the guy.
Meltzer concluded: “I mean, to me, Booker T’s the obvious winner here.”
No argument here.
As for Meltzer’s original point, McAfee’s pro wrestling career has always been more of a passion project than anything else, as his five-year deal to lease The Pat McAfee Show to ESPN is worth $85 million alone. Factor in other gigs like College GameDay and the fact that he seamlessly transitioned from an NFL career to becoming one of the most successful members of the sports media (not to mention a burgeoning Hollywood career) and the West Virginia product clearly doesn’t need whatever WWE is paying him to call Raw each week; he just loves pro wrestling.
As such, it’s easy to understand why he took offense to winning a Wrestling Observer Newsletter award in 2022 for “worst match” thanks to his WrestleMania 38 showdown with Vince McMahon. But while that award was well warranted — thanks more to McMahon than Pat McAfee — his placement in this year’s “worst television announcer” was much more questionable, for all the reasons Meltzer explained.
