Pat McAfee Name-Drops WWE Rival AEW Ahead of WrestleMania
When you think of WrestleMania 42, who do you think the WWE and its umbrella company TKO want you to think of first?
Roman Reigns? Cody Rhodes? Rhea Ripley? CM Punk?
After the week-long lead-up to their pinnacle show of the calendar year, the answer is someone who isn’t even expected to wrestle this weekend: Pat McAfee.
The former NFL punter for the Indianapolis Colts is promoting and getting promoted across all WWE social media channels for WrestleMania 42, as he’s set to accompany legend Randy Orton to the ring on Saturday night when he challenges former protege Cody Rhodes for the WWE championship.
The higher-ups of the WWE, including president Nick Khan, believe that McAfee is heightening the stakes of this weekend’s spectacle, and that fans should wait until it’s all said and done in Las Vegas before complaining about his inclusion.
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On Friday, the night before WWE’s biggest show, McAfee continued his promotion of WrestleMania by bringing up the company’s biggest rival, Tony Khan’s All Elite Wrestling.
During his “The Pat McAfee Show” on YouTube and ESPN, the punter/WWE commentator riled up fans at the “WWE World” convention held in Las Vegas before WrestleMania by promising a huge surprise.
When the countdown clock hit zero, fans at the convention were met by McAfee and his show’s cohorts, who laughed that there was no surprise to be had.
“The surprise that you thought was maybe gonna be your favorite wrestler of all time,” McAfee laughed. “Maybe somebody from AEW was gonna sign with WWE. … Instead, Pat McAfee’s smarter than all of you dumb marks yet again.”
It’s been reported that McAfee has been given freedom to come up with his own promos during the build to WrestleMania, and his dropping of AEW seems to continue that trend.
WWE, ESPN, and TKO believe McAfee is a big enough star to bring in a new type of fan to WrestleMania.
Now they just have to hope he isn’t driving all the old fans away by doing so.
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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 6:53 PM.