Pat McAfee Makes His WWE Return

WWE color commentator Pat McAfee made his return tonight during the 36th Royal Rumble. He joined tonight’s commentary team which featured Corey Graves and Michael Cole.

McAfee, who works on “WWE SmackDown,” has been gone since September 2022, after he signed a deal with ESPN to serve as an analyst for “College GameDay.”

McAfee was hired by WWE in April 2021 to be a commentator on “SmackDown.” He signed a multi-year extension with the company back in July 2022. Before working as a commentator for “SmackDown,” he made several appearances in “WWE NXT” as a wrestler, manager, and panelist. His last match was at SummerSlam 2022, where he defeated Baron Corbin, who was then known as Happy Corbin.

Besides working for WWE, McAfee also has his own show, “The Pat McAfee Show.” The former Indianapolis Colts punter signed a $120 million deal with FanDuel to sponsor his show in December 2021. The deal was for four years, with an opt-out after three years. It’s worth mentioning that “The Pat McAfee Show” was available on Sirius XM from September 2020 to August 2022, and is now available to stream on YouTube.

As noted earlier via Fightful Select, McAfee was said to be a “potential entrant” for the men’s Royal Rumble match. The men’s Royal Rumble match is kicking off the show, while it was reported earlier that the main event is going to be Roman Reigns defending his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Kevin Owens.

Ongoing live coverage of tonight’s “Royal Rumble” is available here.