Pat McAfee returns to WWE commentary at Royal Rumble

Update —

Pat McAfee tweeted after the Royal Rumble: “That was awesome. Massive thank you to the folks of the WWE Universe that were in that AlamoDome.. I’ll remember that ‘hello’ forever. So grateful to be back tonight..shahtaht @MichaelCole & @WWEGraves. GREAT to see the WWE family backstage again. I’ve missed everyone

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Pat McAfee is back in the WWE broadcast booth.

Saturday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view opened with McAfee making his surprise return to WWE commentary. He joined Michael Cole and Corey Graves to form a three-man commentary team for the PPV.

McAfee had been away from WWE since accepting a position with ESPN’s College GameDay last September. When WWE announced new commentary teams in October, it was stated that McAfee would return to the announce desk following his GameDay commitments.

Wade Barrett was introduced as Cole’s new broadcast partner on SmackDown when the new commentary teams debuted in October. Barrett previously was part of the NXT announce team.

McAfee joined SmackDown as a color commentator in April 2021. In July 2022, McAfee signed a multi-year extension of his WWE contract.

McAfee has wrestled five matches for WWE in the past. He was in action at both WrestleMania and SummerSlam last year. McAfee defeated Austin Theory and lost to Vince McMahon at WrestleMania. At SummerSlam, he defeated Baron Corbin.