The Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania is usually filled with a ton of huge moments as WWE sets the scene for a new year of storytelling. And this time even Pat McAfee and Michael Cole were involved in the physicality with former World Heavyweight Champion Gunther.
Gunther lost his title after being defeated by Jey Uso at WrestleMania and took out his frustrations on the announce team, first shoving McAfee out of the way to have a go at Cole. When McAfee intervened, Gunther turned his attention to the ESPN host and put him in his sleeper hold.
McAfee visibly turned purple while lying on the floor and was escorted out of the building, replaced by fellow ESPNer Joe Tessitore on commentary for the rest of the show.
GUNTHER JUST CHOKED OUT PAT MCAFEE! 😲#RawAfterMania pic.twitter.com/B1LePRliTy
— WWE (@WWE) April 22, 2025
It’s rare to see announcers get involved in the action and seeing Michael Cole get attacked and Pat McAfee choked out is going to bring instant heat upon Gunther.
However, this is far from the first time Pat McAfee has physically gotten involved in WWE. He had a match against Adam Cole in NXT in 2020 that was very well received and even had people wondering if he might pursue a more regular wrestling schedule as a celebrity figure in the vein of Logan Paul. He has also had multiple WrestleMania matches against Austin Theory, The Miz, and Vince McMahon. Although the ones against Miz and McMahon were hastily thrown together…. and the less said about the McMahon-McAfee “match” the better. It was one of the worst things we’ve ever seen at the WWE extravaganza.
Will this lead to another return to the ring for Pat McAfee where he squares off against Gunther? Perhaps so. But maybe the biggest question is whether or not we will see McAfee sell the effects of the chokeout when he hosts his eponymous ESPN show on Tuesday. Maybe we will see him break out the Tony Khan neckbrace that we saw during the NFL Draft last year.
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