Pat McAfee cut a passionate promo toward former World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. TNA wrestling star Nic Nemeth, who formerly wrestled in WWE as Dolph Ziggler, had mixed feelings on what he heard.
McAfee’s promo used words that, while censored, are rarely, if ever, used on WWE programming — especially on the weekly shows. He was also allotted plenty of time. Speaking about McAfee’s promo on Busted Open Radio, Nemeth shared how important that is.
“If that’s me in the back a couple of years ago, I’d be like, ‘Man, that is really cool that he got to do a promo differently than we’re allowed to do,'” Nemeth said, h/t Eric Muttler, Wrestling Inc. “‘That’s really cool that he got to swear way more than we’re allowed to do, zero times. And he also got to fight for saying, in theory, ‘Michael Cole and all of you,’ something that someone else could not have done. And you get that moment, and you don’t get 30 seconds.”
But while Nemeth liked what he heard, he could easily see how the promo might have annoyed some of WWE’s full-time wrestlers. Specifically, Nemeth said that if he were still in WWE, two things about the promo would annoy him.
One is that McAfee had more freedom than pretty much any other wrestler.
Two is that the promo set up a match between McAfee and Gunther at Backlash, WWE’s next pay-per-view — potentially taking a spot on the card away from someone else.
“You get to say whatever the hell you want and say it like a person…that can change…that’s game-changing career stuff for anybody else on that roster. So if I’m on that roster, I would’ve been kind of pissed off. And then another spot for McAfee? I’m like ‘We’re fighting for four PPV matches here. I’m trying to get on the card. I’ve got a good story going, I’ve busted my ass, I made it here, they’re using me for the commercials, and now one more PPV spot goes to another guy that kind of works here.’ I’d be pissed.”
We can see where Nemeth is coming from. That said, WWE’s stars have been given more freedom since the departure of Vince McMahon. While there are still some creative issues, wrestlers at least sound more natural during their promos than they have in bygone eras. Two, McAfee gets that freedom on the mic and a spot on the card because WWE feels he’s a big enough star to warrant it. He brings attention to the shows that few WWE wrestlers can match.
