Pat McAfee Accuses ESPN Higher-Up of Sabotaging His Show

Pat McAfee made his WWE debut in 2018 and quickly established a feud with Adam Cole. By 2021, he had transitioned to being a color commentator on SmackDown but is now away from WWE television due to his ESPN duties. However, McAfee has now accused an ESPN higher-up of sabotaging his show.

In May 2023, McAfee left a $120 million, four-year contract with FanDuel to sign multi-million dollar deal with ESPN for his show. Obviously, this was a very big deal for him and this is why he hasn’t been used on WWE television for so long.

While speaking on his show, McAfee discussed maintaining a positive relationship with ESPN overall but accused Norby Williamson of attempting to undermine and sabotage their program.

Pat McAfee expressed frustration with misinformation being leaked, particularly regarding ratings, and suggested a pattern of sabotage throughout the season from those critical of the show’s integration into the ESPN family.

“I believe, Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program. Now, I’m not 100 percent sure. That is just seemingly the only human that has information, and then that information gets leaked, and it’s wrong, and it sets a narrative of what our show is.

Are we just gonna combat that from a rat every single time? Somebody tried to get ahead of our actual ratings release with wrong numbers 12 hours beforehand. That’s a sabotage attempt. It’s been happening this entire season from some people who didn’t necessarily love the old addition of ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ to the ESPN family. There’s a lot of those.”

Pat McAfee hasn’t been seen on WWE television since October last year, when he appeared prior to the tag team match between John Cena & LA Knight and The Bloodline at the Fastlane Premium Live Event. We will have to wait and see when McAfee will be able to return to WWE television again.

What’s your view on this accusation made by Pat McAfee? Do you feel he will return to WWE in the near future? Sound off in the comments section below!