Tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown started off with a bruiser battle between Imperium and the Brawling Brutes, which follows up on Gunther and Sheamus’ incredible match at Clash at the Castle. Before that match started though WWE revealed who would be stepping in for Pat McAfee on SmackDown commentary, as McAfee will not be able to appear on SmackDown for a while due to his new commitment to ESPN’s College GameDay. At the start of the show, the camera focused on Michael Cole, and then it moved to his right and revealed Corey Graves, who then said that he is incredibly excited to be joining SmackDown.
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Over the weekend it was revealed that McAfee would be joining GameDay and would be appearing on the show this Saturday, and then McAfee addressed his new role in a tweet. He would clear up his WWE future in that tweet, sadly revealing that his role on SmackDown would be on hold for a bit while he does GameDay, but also that he is “very much” part of the WWE family still and will be doing more things with WWE.
Triple H also commented on the news, writing .@PatMcAfeeShow approached us about his amazing opportunity with College GameDay. We’d never stand in Pat’s way, as he continues to architect his exceptional career.
Pat will remain a member of the @WWE Universe and we look forward to his return. #UpToSomethingSZN.”
McAfee is also in the middle of a deal with FanDuel (a four-year deal), and he is also doing alternative broadcasts on select games on ESPN2 as part of Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. Now he’s part of the GameDay cast, and while it is a shame to lose him all the time on SmackDown, hopefully he’ll be back in the mix on a more full-time basis once the football season ends.
Are you excited for McAfee joining GameDay? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
