Pat McAfee was notably absent from WWE Raw, which was not planned ahead of time.
Viewers were surprised on the June 24th episode of Raw when The Miz sat alongside Michael Cole at the announce desk, which aired live from McAfee’s home state of Indiana. Cole introduced Miz and said “I’m not going to read too much into that” when discussing McAfee’s absence. With Miz competing in the main event alongside R-Truth to defend and ultimately lose the World Tag Team Championships to Finn Balor and JD McDonagh, Cole called the second half of the show solo.
Earlier in the day, the Raw announcer hosted The Pat McAfee Show, which saw another glitch in programming from the Wyatt Sicks faction. On Raw, Nikki Cross gave Cole a VHS tape with McAfee’s name on it, with fans believing that the connection between McAfee and the group led to the unannounced absence. However, according to a new report, the absence was not storyline-related.
As reported by Wade Keller of PWTorch, McAfee missed the show due to a “legitimate last-second family emergency.” It is also added that McAfee was likely going to be the recipient of the VHS tape instead of Cole and be a part of the follow-up to the Wyatt Sicks debut angle.
During the June 25th edition of The Pat McAfee Show, the star revealed that his father-in-law sadly passed away unexpectedly ahead of Raw, and that was the reason for his absence. McAfee explained that his wife’s father had been in the hospital fighting an infection and got a call just as his show was ending on June 24th that he needed to get to the hospital immediately.
McAfee also reflected on the situation and said that the last words his wife said to her father were “I love you” before reminding his audience to always tell the important people in their lives that they’re loved, saying:
“Tell your people you love them. You literally have no idea what’s gonna come. It can literally be the last time you see somebody anytime you see them.”
McAfee noted that his show is often an escape for people, and he’s grateful to have that escape on a hard day like today.
Tell your people you love them.#PMSLivepic.twitter.com/wFGaR3lUF4
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 25, 2024
Pat McAfee Part Of Huge WWE Announcement
As the company continues to announce major events for the future, June 24th saw WWE confirm the date and location for the 2025 Royal Rumble, which will take place in Indianapolis in February. Additionally, the city will host a 2-night SummerSlam and a WrestleMania in the future.