More Details on Pat McAfee's WWE Status

Dave Meltzer reported in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Pat McAfee will not appear [...]

By Connor Casey

Dave Meltzer reported in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Pat McAfee will not appear on WWE television for the foreseeable future. He stated at the time that the decision was made by WWE, not wanting to overexpose the former NFL punter. He wrote, "We're told McAfee will be off TV for a while. It was WWE's call, not his. No exact time frame was said, but we're told he was given the impression it'll be the spring. He's such a natural at this and really, if the main roster creative wasn't such a mess, he should be there. Plus, his affiliation would get far more sports media talk if it was on Raw or Smackdown and unlike most celebrities, you don't have to worry that his segments or his physical end will come off looking bad."

McAfee, who was last seen on the losing side of a WarGames Match against The Undisputed Era at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, poked fun at the reports over the weekend.

Meltzer appeared on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, providing more details on the decision while saying there's no "heat" on McAfee for anything.

"I just think they don't want to bring him in every single week. You know it's better in smaller doses..." Meltzer said (h/t WrestlingNews.co). "He did nothing wrong, there was no heat. I was told that specifically. There's no heat on either side. It's just they wanted him off for a little while. That's what I was told."

McAfee's feud with the Undisputed Era throughout 2020 was met with widespread praise both in and out of the company.

"I think with Pat, one of the first times I ever met him, he looked at me and said, 'I want to be a weapon for you to grab it and utilize. I want to be a talent.' I thought he meant it as an announcer, but he didn't," Triple H said of McAfee following his NXT TakeOver XXX match with Adam Cole. "Pat has every intention of doing this and being not just an NXT superstar, but when the time is right, a WWE superstar. He has a lot of other commitments from his podcast to everything else he does. He has a lot of commitments across the board, but he's very serious about this. We'll see where it goes. When we first talked about this process from the in-ring, having the match idea, he said to me, 'Let's remember this phone call when you do my Hall of Fame speech.' Pat doesn't lack confidence."

Trending Now: