After shocking the WWE world by turning on CM Punk and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 41, Paul Heyman may have shocked ESPN by turning on Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith.
Heyman joined The Pat McAfee Show for a vast segment during the ESPN portion of their program Monday afternoon, where the pro wrestling manager maintained character. And after undoubtedly catching ESPN off guard by referencing the bombshell sexual assault lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe, Heyman attempted to pit Stephen A. Smith and McAfee against each other.
“Do you care about the opinions of people who are irrelevant?” Heyman asked McAfee. “You don’t care about the opinions of the people who pay you! They sit there and go, ‘Hey, Mr. McAfee, don’t talk about Shannon Sharpe on the air today!’ And you go, ‘I can talk about anything I want, I’m Pat McAfee, watch me swing my schlong all over the place!’”
“Last night, when the roast was over, and you and I were out back and you’re going,” Heyman continued before pretending to be McAfee as he clearly did not stay off the weed. “And you go, ‘Wiseman, you know Stephen A. Smith really sucks right?’ And I go, ‘I love Stephen A! The man calls me the GOAT. Stephen A. Smith is on the air saying, if there’s one person in the universe that I Stephen A. Smith…want to be, it’s The Wiseman Paul Heyman.’ And you sit there and you go ‘These ESPN bastards give me the same money as him or they can [suck it].’”
McAfee was quick to dismiss the accusations, claiming he never made any of those statements during their post-roast conversation. And maybe that’s true. He just needs Stephen A. Smith to believe him.
“With that being said, Stephen A, I’m a big fan, you know that,” McAfee insisted. “Go get all the money you can get. Before talking about the roast.”
Publicly, McAfee and Smith have both praised each other as content creators, particularly in their ability to earn a living. But their relationship hasn’t been without run-ins. Just over a year ago, McAfee and Smith were reportedly involved in an “explosive” argument. And while both ESPN stars have attempted to downplay any tension between them, it’s worth noting that McAfee hasn’t appeared on First Take since the reported argument.
Smith, however, does have a lot of love for Heyman, so he might be willing to accept this as being part of the bit. But Sharpe has already proved to be less diplomatic when feeling attacked at ESPN, previously telling Kirk Herbstreit “don’t play with me” over a dispute about First Take’s past criticism of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. Based on that, it’s hard to imagine Sharpe laughing off any comments or hijinks that occurred during McAfee’s show about being accused of sexual assault. It’s even harder to imagine this is the content ESPN is clamoring for on the Monday before the NFL Draft.