Pat McAfee's WWE Return Confirmed

After much speculation, Pat McAfee’s return to the WWE commentary booth has been confirmed, with McAfee set to resume his Raw announce duties in January 2025.

McAfee has been absent from all WWE programming for the second half of 2024 due to his commitments to ESPN College GameDay, with it reported in August that McAfee would be back in time for WWE’s move to Netflix. In an article published by USA Today, it has been confirmed that McAfee will be rejoining broadcast colleague Michael Cole in the booth for Raw’s Netflix premiere on January 6, with McAfee said to be ‘back with us full time’, according to WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H.

The former NFL star has been part of WWE for several years, wrestling a handful of matches on NXT during a feud with Adam Cole in 2017, before signing a deal with the company in 2018. McAfee transitioned into an analyst position on WWE PLE pre-shows, before forming a well-received commentary duo with Michael Cole on SmackDown in 2021.

McAfee has also competed in the Royal Rumble match (in 2024) and wrestled two short exhibition matches at WrestleMania 38 - against Austin Theory and Vince McMahon - and later wrestled The Miz at WrestleMania 39.

Subscribe to the Cultaholic newsletter now.