WWE’s road after WrestleMania will include a heavy dose of Pat McAfee.
Last week’s “Raw After WrestleMania” — one of WWE’s biggest shows of the year — saw former world champion Gunther choke out McAfee with a sleeper hold after the ESPN star jumped to the defense of his Raw broadcast partner, Michael Cole. One week later, McAfee responded to Gunther’s attack with a heartfelt promo, which he delivered while standing on top of the announce table during Monday’s episode of WWE Raw in Kansas City.
“I think there are a lot of people who have forgotten who the hell I am,” McAfee said. “I’ve such a successful career on the microphone, I think even I have forgotten who the hell I am. This past week has made me look in the mirror and realize some things. That I’m still that dog that was born in the East Hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a truck driver that was trying to go paycheck to paycheck to paycheck.
“… when I die and I’m six feet in the dirt… I hope they say he was an empathetic man, whenever he received a lot, he gave back a lot. He gave millions of dollars to his community and children’s hospitals across the country, and military foundations, homeless shelters and LGBTQ communities and public school foundations and underprivileged communities and societies. I hope they say when I die, that I gave back and left the world better than when I came into it. And last but not least, when I’m dead and gone, they will say that I was a loyal motherf**ker.”
The former All-Pro punter proceeded to reaffirm his support of Cole, who he referred to as “the greatest of all-time.”
“If I die, I die,” McAfee said, looking directly into the camera. “You got a problem with Cole, you’ve got a problem with me, Gunther.”
Pat McAfee then called out Smackdown general manager Nick Aldis (who was working on behalf of Raw GM Adam Pearce on Monday) to request that “The Ring General” have his indefinite suspension lifted immediately so that he could fight him. Aldis declined, but did offer an alternative: a match against Gunther at the upcoming WWE Backlash premium live event in St. Louis on May 10.
In case there was any question, McAfee accepted.
McAfee’s upcoming match will mark his eighth official match with WWE and first true contest since defeating Happy Corbin at SummerSlam in 2022. All things considered, the 37-year-old has been fairly impressive inside the squared circle and even won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter‘s Rookie of the Year award in 2020.
Considering WWE’s recent rise in popularity and Gunther’s status as one of the best wrestlers in the world, this could prove to be McAfee’s highest profile match yet. And while we’ll have to wait until May 10 to see how he fares in his return to the ring, last week’s angle and Monday’s promo have both provided plenty of promise.
