There have been enough hadiths that preceded it Royal Rumble About Pat McAfee’s return to the WWE fold, his appearance for the men’s Rumble call-up that opened the show wasn’t a complete surprise.
Unless you’re Michael Cole. But that’s because Pat Mac worked on his old (? More on that in a sec) SmackDAHN announced his partner earlier Saturday to convince him he wouldn’t be in San Antonio for the show.
Cole told the story during the encore Show Pat McAfee Today (30 January):
“I spoke to you several times throughout the day on Saturday. In fact, you sent me a couple of pictures of you and playboy Boston Connor, sitting in front of a golf simulator. You asked me what the big surprise was at the Rumble, you asked me if Brock was coming, and you asked me if it was going to be a show.” Cool.
I text you back with, “It would be an incredible show if you were there.” And I was like, ‘Yeah, maybe next time or something’ and that was it, and then I got no response from you. Next thing I know, I’m sitting at the desk and Corey and I are doing our camera to start the show and record your music.”
Kevin Dunn apparently orchestrated McAfee’s appearance at the Rumble so that Cole and Corey Graves wouldn’t be in the ring, including rebooking his flight when plane trouble canceled his first flight. Cole also said that he wasn’t sure if Bate would ever return to WWE given everything he’s been doing these days:
“I legit didn’t know if we’d ever see you again in WWE. I know we talked back in September that you’d be back after football season. A lot has changed in your life since then, a lot has changed in our company since then. I legit didn’t. I didn’t know if you’d come back.”
McAfee did not provide answers on his future plans, but did say that at some point he was supposed to enter the Rumble. However, like Dwayne Johnson, this busy schedule prevented him from getting the kind of status he wanted to be in to take a high-profile position like this:
“A lot of people thought I was going to be at the Royal Rumble, a lot of people thought I was going to be there. It wasn’t decided until late last week. I mean, that came together pretty quickly.
“Not that there were any bad relationships or anything, it’s just the schedule for the past five months and everyone’s schedule, especially in WWE…my wife is pregnant, with the schedule…there was no bad beef or anything. It was It’s like, ‘I don’t want to train enough to go to this royal club [Rumble]”…
“They said right away, Hunter and everybody and Nick and Stephanie at the time, they were like, ‘You know, Rumble, this is like the perfect time to come back because when people come back, and after college football season or something. And I was like ‘Perfect, okay’ because I actually need something to keep me in shape. I’m always getting fatter. I actually need something to keep me going for and I tried it. Everyone saw me, I was after it there…
“I think I can get it [worked the match] But I don’t want to disrespect anyone. There are only so many places and when you are there, there is so much danger, and there is so much shit that can happen. So I told them, I think maybe week 14, week 13 of the season, I’m like, ‘Hey, I just want to tell you, it’s been a tough season this year with [ESPN College] play day Being an extra working day…”
“I said to them, ‘Hey, I’m not going to be able to be in good enough shape for the Rumble, I don’t want to honor the Royal Rumble or anything like that.'” “That was the goal, the Royal Rumble was the goal, and I just couldn’t keep up because of the fall of Gameday and what that schedule has become.”
