Former WWE Producer Comments On Working With Pat McAfee, Says He Had 'Unfinished Business' In Wrestling
Recently hired AEW Senior Vice President and Co-Executive Producer Mike Mansury has reflected on working with Pat McAfee. Mansury previously worked for WWE as the company's Vice President of Global Television Production. Serving as a guest on "The Sessions with Renee Paquette," Mansury discussed first seeing McAfee's work as an online personality.
"Michael Cole and I were looking for new voices for the Kickoff shows, just to kind of get out of WWE in-house voices," Mansury said. "I remember seeing a bunch of Pat's stuff on Instagram. He was at Barstool at the time, and I was like, 'That's a guy and he's a wrestling fan.' Cole sets up to bring Pat in and we struck up a friendship." Mansury said that when McAfee found out that he was leaving WWE during the COVID-19 pandemic, the former NFL punter invited him to Indianapolis. Mansury ended up being an Executive Producer for Pat McAfee Inc. for close to a full year.
Once Mansury wrapped up his time with McAfee's company, he ended up taking on the role of Senior Vice President & Executive Producer of Global Production for ONE Championship. Mansury said he had a blast in Singapore working for the MMA promotion, but he felt there was "unfinished business" in the wrestling industry. "I don't know that I left wrestling feeling fulfilled," Mansury said. "I think when I left the WWE, I was burnt out at that point and I was frustrated." Mansury went on to say that he felt there was still a lot more that he hasn't yet accomplished.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Sessions with Renee Paquette," with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.