Pat McAfee accepts offer to wrestle at WWE WrestleMania 38

Though his opponent hasn’t been announced, Pat McAfee is officially returning to the ring at WrestleMania 38.

While appearing as a guest on McAfee’s radio show on Thursday, Vince McMahon offered McAfee the opportunity to wrestle at WrestleMania 38. McAfee said it would be a dream and accepted the offer.

McMahon said he’ll find a “worthy opponent” for McAfee.

Dave Meltzer reported last Saturday that a match between McAfee and Vince McMahon was listed on WWE’s internal schedule for WrestleMania 38. There wasn’t any hostility between McAfee and McMahon during their interview today, and there wasn’t the start of an angle to build to a match between the two.

There was a segment on this Monday’s Raw where Austin Theory wanted to come to the Pat McAfee Show with McMahon so that he could be there in case anything went wrong. Theory didn’t end up appearing with McMahon during the interview.

This will be McAfee’s first main roster WWE match. He previously wrestled twice for NXT, facing Adam Cole in a singles match and also taking part in a WarGames match.

After retiring from the NFL in 2017, McAfee started a new career as a sports media personality. He first worked for WWE as a panelist for NXT TakeOver pre-shows.

McAfee joined the SmackDown commentary team in April 2021. He calls the show alongside Michael Cole.

AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas is hosting WrestleMania 38 on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3. Here’s the updated lineup for the show:

Night one (Saturday, April 2) —

  • SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair defends against Ronda Rousey
  • Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defends against Bianca Belair
  • Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz & Logan Paul
  • Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin

Night two (Sunday, April 3) —

  • Winner-take-all championship unification match: WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns

Night to be determined —

  • AJ Styles vs. Edge
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Carmella & Zelina Vega defend against Sasha Banks & Naomi
  • Pat McAfee vs. to be announced