It’s been more than a month since Pat McAfee appeared on WWE programming. But was his time away referenced in a John Cena promo?
It’s obvious… at least according to veteran wrestling scribe Dave Meltzer.
On Sunday’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, the longtime writer, reporter, and match star-giver said that a Smackdown contract signing between John Cena and Cody Rhodes to promote their main event match at SummerSlam made light of McAfee’s extended absence due to burnout and exhaustion. He even asked if the “spoof” could be a message from WWE to McAfee, suggesting they aren’t happy with him taking the summer off.
“The whole thing was a spoof on Pat McAfee,” Meltzer said. “It was. So are they, knowing them, are they like mad at him because he was supposed to work for them all until football season?”
“I know when he missed the first two shows he was supposed to be back earlier than that. I remember being told, ‘it’s imminent. It might be this week’ and I think that was after week three. And now it’s pretty clear he’s not coming back. So maybe. Or maybe Cena just — it’s topical. I’ll just spoof it, you know. But it was clearly a spoof on Pat McAfee,” he added.
During the segment, Cena said he would not appear at SummerSlam because of his busy schedule and how exhausted he was. It ended with Cena trying to walk away but Rhodes splashing him through a table and forcing him to sign the contract.
As for McAfee, he last appeared on WWE programming during the Money In The Bank event on June 7. A few weeks later, he addressed his absence (and his critics), citing his need to step away from all his other responsibilities and focus solely on working for WWE, College GameDay, and his successful ESPN daily show. At the time, it sounded like he was getting ready for an imminent return. However, the absence has now lasted over a month.
Earlier this week, McAfee went deeper on the subject with Kirk Herbstreit on his daily show. He discussed some of his exhaustion issues, including traveling non-stop and the challenging transition from a late night working Raw to doing his daily show the next day with a young child at home.
In talking to Herbstreit, McAfee credited Nick Khan by name for allowing him to step away and was more than complimentary of how WWE was handling his time off. He also put over fellow WWE analysts Wade Barrett and Corey Graves on commentary for the job they have done while he has been away.
The question Dave Meltzer asks about whether WWE is mad at McAfee would definitely mark a new development and a change in the relationship, given that everything has been above board. To this point, it doesn’t look like that’s the case. It seems that Meltzer is stating what he believes to be the case rather than reporting information from inside the company. Meltzer also added that McAfee won’t be back, which likely means through the fall football season. At this point, however, it would be a massive surprise if the commentator was done with WWE altogether.
In wrestling, a spoof or rib can happen because everyone is in on the joke… or there’s some hard feelings at play. However, Meltzer said this does come during the same week that McAfee worked the Home Run Derby on Monday instead of Raw on Netflix. To get even further in the weeds, McAfee also launched a cryptic message on social media aimed at… somebody… suggesting he had a ferocious rant lined up in drafts just waiting to be unleashed. Was that someone at WWE? An ESPN executive? A sports media reporter? The possibilities could be endless. Maybe now it will be Meltzer himself.
But for right now, it does not appear that the relationship between Pat McAfee and WWE is under any long-term threat. However, the timing and content of Cena’s promo and McAfee’s extended break has undoubtedly got the industry watching. Who knows where this goes next, but it is exhausting to keep track of.