WWE Reportedly Pulls Pat McAfee From TV
Pat McAfee has reportedly been pulled off of WWE television, according to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. According to Meltzer, it was WWE's decision, not McAffee's. It's not known why WWE made the decision to pull him.
There is reportedly no timetable on his return, although it was noted that the impression is that it will be in the spring.
McAfee has only wrestled twice in NXT, but he received heavy praise for his performances. Steve Austin appeared on ESPN's "Monday Tailgate" show last week and praised McAfee for his work.
"Hey man, [McAfee] puts it all on the line," Austin said. "He's going for it. You know, basically I think his verbal skills – he's slinging everybody. But he's not afraid to go out there and put it all on the line, so you know, you wouldn't expect that from a guy that kicks a football. But Pat McAfee's badass, I think he's doing a really, really good job. I give him a solid A."
CM Punk also recently praised McAfee, saying that he is a better promo than anyone in WWE.
"A lot of it has to do with circumstance, but everyone else on the show(s) should feel embarrassment, and subsequently USE said feeling to better themselves, at the fact that @PatMcAfeeShow is a better promo than everyone on the show(s)," Punk tweeted. "There's zero reason for him to fully commit to wrestling. He's already the best thing on this show not named @RheaRipley_WWE"
In an interview with Wrestling Inc. last year, McAfee discussed how he trained for pro wrestling while he was with the NFL.
"I bought a wrestling ring in either my third or fourth year in the league. I had it built in my barn and didn't use it much except for at parties when my friends kids would want to get in there," said McAfee. "As soon as I retired a guy named Rip Rogers who used to train at OVW and lives 10 minutes from my house would chit-chat with me about rasslin'. He would train me like 3-4 times a week to get me in shape and to see if I ever wanted to do it if I could do it or not. I was getting my ass kicked, getting chopped and having bruises on my chest, but I was having a blast."
McAfee last wrestled at "Takeover: WarGames 2020" earlier this month. McAfee teamed with Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in a losing effort to Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish in a WarGames match.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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Marc Middleton contributed to this article.