Pat McAfee has revealed if a return to the WWE announce desk looks possible in the near future.
The SmackDown commentator has not been seen behind the desk on Friday nights since Summer 2022 when McAfee announced he would be going on hiatus to focus on ESPN’s College Gameday. McAfee has made sporadic returns at the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, but not on weekly TV.
During an Instagram Q and A session, the former NFL Punter was asked if he misses WWE. The announcer would state how much he misses not being there but is too busy at ESPN to make a return.
This is going to sound like pandering or a cheap pop. It’s not. Every day. Literally. When I was in the NFL, I was envious of people who could do indie wrestling because I wasn’t allowed under my NFL contract and I couldn’t jeopardize what was paying for me, family and friends to have a much better life. I get an opportunity to wrestle and do the WWE life, and it was an honor and a dream, and I had the time of my f*cking life in there. Loved it, every single moment, but now my business has got to a point where I’m very lucky for this and fortunate for this.
We’ve worked our ass off, but I’m incredibly busy, and we’ve got fifteen employees over here that are having babies and building houses. It’s a tough thing to deal with mentally because emotionally, I want to be there, but I just can’t timing wise. We will figure it out,”
Pat McAfee’s In-Ring Career
McAfee has wrestled 6 matches in WWE with 2 in NXT and 4 on the main roster. Debuting at TakeOver 30, the announcer would lose to Adam Cole in a match that was very well received considering it was a celebrity match. Debuting on the main roster in the biggest way possible, McAfee would defeat Austin Theory at WrestleMania 38 before losing to Mr. McMahon directly afterwards.
H/t to Fightful.