Pat McAfee Joining WWE’s ‘Friday Night SmackDown’ Broadcast Team
Former NFL punter, turned media personality, Pat McAfee will appear as a new analyst on WWE's Friday Night SmackDown on FOX on Friday evening, WWE announced.
McAfee said in a statement that, "I’ve been fortunate to try a lot of cool professions but working for WWE was the one I looked forward to most. I am incredibly honored and grateful for the chance to give back to the business that has given me and many others so much and having the opportunity to sit at the same table that legends have graced is truly a dream come true. Now let’s go get it.”
He has previously performed both inside the ring and on the broadcast on WWE's NXT.
“The hardest thing in the world to do when the red light comes on is just be you," Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who oversees the NXT brand, told Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso of McAfee earlier this winter. When you can just be you, it’s real. That’s what resonates—believability. When you believe it, that’s when they will believe it.”
McAfee will take the place formerly occupied by Corey Graves, who was moved to Raw when WWE shook up its commentary teams earlier this week in the wake of WrestleMania. Graves replaced Samoa Joe, who was among 10 wrestlers released by WWE on Thursday. (Former ESPN anchor Adnan Virk is the new play-by-play man on Raw, replacing Tom Phillips.)
Among the matches set for Friday evening, the Dirty Dawgs will try and defend their belts against the Street Profits.
McAfee hosts a daily radio show and podcast. Prior to his media career, he played eight season with the Colts before retiring in 2017.
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