Pat McAfee says original plan was to return in WWE Royal Rumble match
Pat McAfee says the original plan was for him to be in the men’s Royal Rumble match.
The SmackDown announcer returned to WWE on Saturday for the first time since joining ESPN’s College GameDay last September. He addressed his return on Monday’s Pat McAfee Show and said his goal was to enter the Rumble match itself but ultimately felt he wasn’t in good enough shape to do so.
McAfee said:
A lot of people thought I was going to be in the Royal Rumble, a lot of people thought that I was going to be there. That was not figured out until late last week. I mean, that really came together pretty quick.
Not that there was any bad relations or anything, it’s just my schedule for the last five months and everybody’s schedule, especially in WWE… My wife’s pregnant, with what the schedule was… There was no bad beef or anything. It was just like ‘I don’t want to have to train enough to go into that Royal [Rumble].’
McAfee would continue to say that when he left WWE in September, management expressed that the Rumble was the perfect time to return.
They said immediately, Hunter and everybody and Nick, and Stephanie at the time, were like, ‘You know, Rumble, that’s like a perfect time to come back because that’s when people come back, and it’s after college football season or whatever.’ And I was like ‘perfect, alright’ because I actually need something to keep me in shape. I always get fat. I actually need something to keep working out for and I tried. Everybody saw me, I was getting after it there.
McAfee was asked if he was in good enough shape for a short appearance in the match.
I think I could have but I don’t want to disrespect anybody.
There’s only so many spots and when you’re in there, there’s a lot of danger, there’s a lot s**t that can happen.
So I told them, I think maybe week 14, week 13 of the season, I’m like, ‘Hey, just want to let you know, this season’s been a grind this year with Gameday being an extra work day…’
I told them, ‘Hey, I’m not going to be able to be in good enough shape for Rumble, don’t want to direspect Royal Rumble or anything like that.’
It was the goal, Royal Rumble was the goal, I wasn’t able to keep up because of Gameday getting dropped in and what that schedule became.
McAfee praised WWE, and specifically Kevin Dunn, for keeping his return a secret. He also kept it a secret from Michael Cole, who joined the Pat McAfee Show as a guest on Monday as well.
Cole had the following to say to McAfee on the show:
I spoke with you a number of times throughout the day on Saturday. In fact, you sent me a couple of pictures of you and the stooge, Boston Connor, sitting in front of the golf simulator. You asked me who the big surprise was for the Rumble, you asked me if Brock was coming, you asked me if it was going to be a great show. I text you back, ‘It would be an unbelievable show if you were there.’ And you were like, ‘Yeah, maybe next time or whatever’ and that was it, and then I never heard back from you. The next thing I know, I sit down at the desk and Corey and I do our on-camera to start the show and your music hit.
McAfee also mentioned that plane trouble led to him arriving less than 30 minutes before the event started.
Cole also said he wasn’t sure if McAfee would ever return to WWE.
I legit didn’t know if we were ever going to see you again in WWE. I know that we talked back in September that you would be back after the football season. A lot in your life has changed since then, a lot in our comapny has changed since then. I legit did not know if you would be back.