Pat McAfee has been absent from WWE’s commentary team since the Money In The Bank premium live event on June 6.
On Monday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show, the former All-Pro punter explained why he has been taking a break from the company — while also confirming he would be missing that night’s episode of WWE Raw, which took place just a few hours away in Columbus, Ohio.
“Monday Night Raw‘s on tonight. I will not be commentating,” McAfee said. “Continuing to just kind of catch up on life as a whole. Post-Money in the Bank, Pre-Night of Champions feels like a good time. I was getting pretty exhausted there. So shoutout to everybody at the WWE looking out for me, too. Very, very thankful.”
Reading between the lines, it appears that McAfee will be back in the fold this Saturday for the Night of Champions event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That would ultimately amount to a three-week break from WWE, where he has served as the lead analyst on Raw (and even wrestled in a match) since the show’s debut on Netflix at the start of this year.
All things considered, such a break is perfectly understandable. McAfee effectively went straight from his ESPN College GameDay duties to joining the Raw commentary team during the busiest time of WWE’s calendar, all while also hosting his daily eponymous show amid the Indiana Pacers’ run to the NBA Finals.
Nevertheless, some wrestling fans on social media used McAfee’s explanation as an opportunity to express their disdain for the West Virginia product, even going as far as to tell him to stay away for good. And the 38-year-old didn’t just read the comments, but took to X to respond.
“‘I was getting pretty exhausted.. I produce/host a 5 day a week show, have been on the go every week since Dublin last year before College Football.. plus I run my growing company with 14 employees and have a 2 year old daughter,'” McAfee wrote, expanding on the source of his exhaustion. “‘YOU’RE NOT EXHAUSTED ENOUGH BITCH.. NEED YA TO TAKE A DIRT NAP’ ~ The IWC (Internet Wrestling Community)
“Thank you all so much,” he added. “Excited for the future of my life.”
McAfee proceeded to post several screenshots of the not-so-friendly comments from fans.
While the ESPN star appears to be focusing on the negative, the reality is that most fans seem to have enjoyed his recent run as a Raw commentor (and sometimes wrestler). Considering the busy nature of his schedule, it was seemingly inevitable that he’d be taking a brief hiatus from WWE, especially with the start of the 2025 college football season now just a matter of weeks away.