Pat McAfee Mocks WWE Celebrity, News On Furloughed Employees

Pat McAfee Mocks WWE Celebrity

Former NFL punter Pat McAfee promises to do better inside the WWE ring than some other notables who came before him.

At NXT TakeOver: XXX on August 22, McAfee will take on former NXT champion Adam Cole. The event will also feature Keith Lee defending his NXT title against Karrion Kross.

As for McAfee, he is working hard to make himself look good in the ring. He accepted the challenge of Cole through Triple H while appearing on ESPN’s Get Up program.

“Tyson Fury, best boxer I’ve ever seen. He looked terrible in the (WWE) ring,” said McAfee during his radio show recently. “There’s been a lot of outsiders, even though I’ve worked for NXT for a few years and I’ve had a match before. Shout out to WARPIG, IWA East Coast.

“I also kicked his head off, pinned him. It’s a common trend here. I am undefeated. I don’t know if anybody in NXT is currently undefeated throughout their entire professional wrestling career like me.”

The feud between McAfee and Cole has been brewing since late in July when McAfee used his CBS Sports Radio program to call-out Cole.

McAfee accused him of “hiding” behind The Undisputed Era during his NXT-record championship run. He later appeared on an episode of NXT and proceeded to punt Cole’s head.

Officials quickly booted McAfee from the Full Sail University arena after the punt on Cole.

McAfee’s WWE Future

As of now, there is no word if McAfee is looking to transition into a wrestler. As noted, he currently works with the company as on air personalty. 

Whatever happens, the story will likely be picked up by several media outlets such as ESPN. 

The day after Takeover is SummerSlam, which was to feature Rob Gronkowski making his pro wrestling debut. That went out the window when he came out of retirement and decided to give the NFL another season.

Overall, the timing is interesting. Maybe with  Gronkowski out, WWE used McAfee as a replacement. 

News On Furloughed Employees

WWE’s decision to furlough many back in April hit home very hard.

However, the global pandemic known as COVID-19 has continued to cause problems. And that includes in the pro wrestling world.

According to a report in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, around 240 full-time non-wrestlers were given furloughs back in April. The date for furloughs has been extended several times, including to Friday, August 28.

Many of those, though, are already job-searching. It remains highly unlikely that the WWE brings many of them back especially as live events continue to be missing in action.

Some were hopeful to be back in July, but only a small number have returned. The WWE did just announce profit earnings for 2020 Q2 in late July at over $51 million in savings.

WWE’s return to live events should result in many of these furloughed people being brought back. However, there remains no set date for that to happen.

WWE hoped to have live events running again in June or July, but a better chance seems to be 2021.