Backstage News On When Pat McAfee Will Return To WWE Commentary

Pat McAfee worked from right after WrestleMania 37 until very recently on the "SmackDown" brand alongside Michael Cole on commentary, with the two men praising each other over the past year and a half. Along with his commentary job, McAfee has also had three matches since joining the "SmackDown" commentary team, defeating Austin Theory at WrestleMania 38 and Happy Corbin at SummerSlam 2022, with his only loss coming to Vince McMahon directly after he defeated Theory. McAfee has temporarily stepped away from professional wrestling commentary as he secured a new opportunity with College GameDay at ESPN and since this announcement, Corey Graves has filled in for the former Indianapolis Colts punter.

On October 6, Variety announced there would be commentary changes coming to WWE, with one of those being five-time Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett joining Cole on commentary moving forward, making his way up from "NXT." According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, McAfee will be returning to WWE come January, just in time for the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania season, however, whether Barrett, Cole, and McAfee share a booth upon McAfee's return has not been confirmed yet.

Other changes that came to WWE commentary teams includes no more three-man booths, at least for the time being, as the "Raw" commentary team will now consist of Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves, whereas before the team was Graves, Jimmy Smith, and Byron Saxton. Smith has been released by WWE and Saxton has been moved to be a backstage correspondent for the red brand, along with the returning Cathy Kelly, who parted ways with WWE in early 2020. "NXT" is seeing a new commentary duo as well, as Vic Joseph will remain on commentary with the brand and now will be joined by the two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T.