Pat McAfee gives touching tribute after father-in-law’s sudden death

With WWE Raw taking place in Indianapolis on Monday, Pat McAfee figured to be one of the central stars of the show.

But as WWE’s flagship show began, the former All-Pro punter was noticeably absent from his place on the Raw commentary desk.

Most fans figured that McAfee’s absence was part of a storyline — especially considering that he has recently teased interactions with a new horror-inspired faction, the Wyatt Sick6. But by the end of the show, a resolution never came, with Pro Wrestling Torch’s Wade Keller later reporting that the Raw color commentator missed the show “due to a legitimate last-second family emergency.”

On Tuesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show, McAfee shed more light on the matter, revealing that he had missed the show due to the unexpected death of his father-in-law. He proceeded to reveal that his father-in-law had previously been hospitalized with an infection but was expected to make a full recovery before for taking an unexpected turn for the worse on Monday afternoon.

“Yesterday is a day that will obviously be remembered forever in our family because my father-in-law passed away unexpectedly after the show ended yesterday,” McAfee said, noting that he wasn’t able to share the news at the start of the show as his wife was still informing other family members.

“Yesterday, literally as the show was ending, my wife calls me and says that I have to get to the hospital because there had been an emergency. So I head over there and what my wife and her mom and her aunt and everybody in her family saw go on was her dad being a badass and trying to kick ass and inevitably losing his fight in this particular day. Whenever something blindsides an entire family like that, obviously, it can be wildly devastating.”

McAfee continued with a touching tribute to both his late father-in-law and his wife.

“My wife is a daddy’s girl. She actually has a bear tattooed on her because she calls her dad ‘papa bear.’ She has her dad’s quotes all over her,” he said. “So last night was obviously a very difficult night for our family. It was a nice reminder — and thankfully my wife and her mom, with her dad, the last things they said to Bob, who was a great man, was ‘I love you.’ I think this is a nice piece of perspective and nice moment to tell everybody, ‘Hey, tell your people you love them. You literally have no idea what’s going to come.’ It can literally be the last time you see somebody anytime you see them. A lot of people tell us that our show helps them escape from things and get away from things — well that’s what it is for me today and I can’t thank you all enough. And my wife and her mom, I love you.”

Our thoughts and condolences go out to the McAfee family.