Pat McAfee made his huge return at the WWE Royal Rumble, which took everybody by surprise. The show opened with a surprise as McAfee returned to the commentary table to join Michael Cole and Corey Graves on the call for the event. A new report has revealed that Pat McAfee’s Royal Rumble return was a legitimate surprise to all those involved. The return was kept very close to the vest in order to prevent it from leaking out. It was noted that not even the majority of WWE’s production team were clued in before McAfee made his way to the ring.
Pat McAfee talks about his return
While speaking on his radio show, McAfee detailed his WWE return.
“So here’s the deal, we just pulled off a little bit of a kayfabe. We just pulled off a little bit of a work on Saturday with the Royal Rumble. Now, obviously, there was speculation, a lot of people talking about it, a lot of people thought I was going to be in the Royal Rumble. A lot of people thought I was going to be there. That was not figured out until late last week. I mean, that came together pretty quick. Not that there was any bad relations, but it’s just my schedule for the last five months and everyone’s schedule, especially in the WWE, my wife is pregnant. With what the schedule was, there was no bad beef or anything. It was just, ‘I don’t want to have to train enough to get into the Royal Rumble“, McAfee stated.
McAfee went on hiatus from WWE in September 2022 to join the ESPN College Gameday team. Because of the hectic travel schedule, McAfee was told to focus on his ESPN gig and when the college football season was over then he could return to WWE where he had been serving as the SmackDown color commentator.
