Pat McAfee Gives Backstage Insight Into WWE Return At Royal Rumble

Pat McAfee's surprise return at WWE's Royal Rumble event over the weekend almost didn't happen, the color commentator said on his talk show Monday.

During the most recent episode of "The Pat McAfee Show," the host said his first plane's wing malfunctioned and he landed "28 minutes" before the Royal Rumble began after switching planes.

"Holy sh*t, now we're in an ordeal," McAfee said he thought once the first plane he was aboard couldn't take off in time.

"I landed 28 minutes before I was seen at the Rumble because of the plane delay," he said. "So, literally: plane, car's on runway, [heading] to arena, stop at bus, have a water, 'Ok, here we go,' then bang right into a golf cart and straight over there."

He said he saw a few WWE superstars before the Royal Rumble match including Xavier Woods, Baron Corbin, and The Miz, who asked McAfee if he was going to be in the men's Royal Rumble match. He was Triple H before he walked out and when his music hit, he hadn't even seen the arena yet and didn't know how long of a walk it was to the ring.

"I'm so thankful for everybody," he said, shouting out WWE's backstage crew for getting him there in time.

McAfee said he didn't have time to get into ring shape before the Royal Rumble with his work schedule outside WWE in addition to his wife, Samantha, being pregnant, so he could not compete.

"Obviously there was speculation, a lot of people talking about it, a lot of people thought I was going to be in the Royal Rumble, a lot of people thought I was going to be there," he said. "That was not figured out until late last week. That really came together pretty quick."