Pat McAfee Unsure About WWE Return

According to Pat McAfee, his career in WWE is on pause, over for now.

McAfee hasn’t wrestled for WWE since May of last year. He faced and lost to Gunther at Backlash and hasn’t been a commentator since Wrestlepalooza last September.

In an Instagram story post, McAfee gave fans an update on his status with WWE.

“I don’t think you ever say never, especially with the WWE but right now it does not feel like something that’s supposed to happen. It feels like that business has kind of passed me by a little bit, I grew up loving it, dreamed of working it, feel honored that I had the opportunity to work alongside the GOAT Michael Cole but I feel like the biz is in a good spot without me. I’ll continue to watch,” he said.

Fan response has been mixed.

I do miss Pat in WWE. Hope we can see an appearance from him down the line.

— Kat (AKA The Texas Sports Queen)🤘🏻 (@TXSportsQueen) March 9, 2026

Breaking news: business adapts when employee leaves for 5 months every year

— Dusty (@DWC_78) March 9, 2026

Felt this was coming for awhile back when he had to take a break bc he was doing a lot. That WWE schedule is a monster. With him trying to do that, his show, College Gameday, AND now they want him in movies, it would’ve been A LOT of time away from the family and strenuous

— kakarot (@ShadBoogie) March 9, 2026

Felt this was coming for awhile back when he had to take a break bc he was doing a lot. That WWE schedule is a monster. With him trying to do that, his show, College Gameday, AND now they want him in movies, it would’ve been A LOT of time away from the family and strenuous

— kakarot (@ShadBoogie) March 9, 2026

One other factor could be that the WWE doesn’t have a shortage of announcers with a line-up of:

• Michael Cole

• Corey Graves

• Joe Tessitore

• Wade Barrett

• Vic Joseph

• Booker T