Pat McAfee joins WWE Raw commentary team full-time

Pat McAfee has returned to the WWE commentary team full-time and will be calling Raw every week. 

McAfee kicked off Monday’s WWE Raw with an entrance and joined Michael Cole at the commentary desk where Cole announced that he and McAfee will be calling Raw together each week going forward. 

WWE has yet to announce what the McAfee news means for Wade Barrett who had been calling Raw with Cole. Barrett & Cole were the SmackDown announce team from October 2022 until August 2023, then called Raw weekly from August until last week.

Cole and McAfee called SmackDown together weekly from April 2021 until September 2022 when McAfee left his position to join ESPN’s College GameDay football coverage. McAfee signed a multi-year contract extension with WWE in the summer of 2022.

Since leaving the commentary team full-time, McAfee has sporadically made appearances including as a commentator at Royal Rumble & Fastlane in 2023, as well as at this past Saturday’s Royal Rumble. McAfee also wrestled The Miz at WrestleMania in 2023, and was an entrant in this year’s Rumble match where he eliminated himself from the bout. 

The Pat McAfee show began in 2019 as a radio and video program, later switching to a video show streaming daily on YouTube. The show moved to ESPN in September 2023 where it airs daily.