Pat McAfee Suggests His Future With WWE Could Be Tied To Who Buys It
Pat McAfee's future in WWE is still uncertain. In April 2021, McAfee joined the "WWE SmackDown" commentary team to call the two-hour show alongside Michael Cole. Last September, McAfee announced he signed a deal with ESPN to be an analyst for "College Game Day," and the scheduling conflict led to McAfee taking an extended hiatus. As a result, WWE shook up the announce teams with Wade Barrett moving to Friday nights in his absence.
The former NFL player made a surprise return to commentary for one night only at WWE Royal Rumble, but it seems McAfee is still weighing his options. He recently made a lengthy tweet about his future and specifically mentioned, "Baby girl on the way... what's that mean for my future with WWE? I LOVE it but, they're allegedly gonna be sold, who's buying them? Do I want to work/make money for those people?"
In January, Vince McMahon returned to the WWE Board of Directors and made his intentions known that he is pursuing a sale of the company. Bloomberg recently reported that McMahon is eyeing $9 billion as the target price, while the likes of Comcast, Endeavor, Disney, and Netflix have been floated around as potential buyers. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is also reportedly interested, which caused a stir on social media shortly after McMahon's return.
Despite McAfee's uncertainty, he's already left his mark in WWE history. He competed in two NXT TakeOver matches in 2021 — coming up short to Adam Cole in singles competition and then again to Undisputed Era inside WarGames. McAfee made his WrestleMania debut last year with a win over Austin Theory and then a loss to McMahon the following night. SummerSlam marked the last time McAfee competed as he picked up a victory over Baron Corbin.