WWE commentator Pat McAfee discussed various topics on his podcast, The Pat McAfee Show, including his reasons for stepping back from commentary duties with the company.
McAfee said, “Thank you. I got — I got real tired, man. I crashed. You hit a wall. Yeah, I hit one. I’ve been going since Dublin. You know, and they started Raw early, and I’m like an energy guy, and I don’t need a lot of sleep to operate. Like I’ve always been that way. And then, I just got to Money in the Bank in LA. And I was on the East Coast for TST. And then I went down to Paris Island. And then I went to LA for Money in the Bank, and I could just feel it. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, my brain is not like operating right now.’”
On dealing with mental exhaustion from his work duties:
“And I talked to others that have maybe experienced like mental exhaustion before, whenever they have had it. And I’ve talked to them, and I’ve been like, ‘Uh, I’m staring down what you went through there.’ Like I knew this moment was coming. Like I — I knew it was going to happen at some point, and it happens to people. So, like I talked to people about it happening and what they went through whenever it happened. And like as Money in the Bank was happening, I was like, ‘Oh my god. This is it. This is, I’ve finally hit it.’ And I never thought it was going to happen. But you add in like my daughter. Wanting to be around the daily, the show, the travel, and then also trying my best, and I know wrestling fans don’t think this. I think a lot of them don’t think this. The wrestling community doesn’t think this, but like, I was trying to put everybody over like maximum effort, full every time, trying to put people over to people that are watching. And it’s like, I think that with the travel with me not getting back till like 2 3:00 a.m. on Monday night, it takes a toll.”
On the show moving on without him:
“Like that’s a massive deal to the WWE because everything that’s going on right now for me at the commentator position. It’s like show moves on regardless. So like the ability to not feel absolutely ****, terrible for having to take a step back because I’m tired. WWE has on the other side cuz they have such a hard work kind of mindset, and travel mindset, and they’ve been doing it for so long. They understand like people get to like, ‘Hey, yeah, we understand you might need to take a sleep for a little.’”
On not thinking he would’ve made it to football season while commentating for WWE:
“So, they’ve been great. They’ve been great, and I will always love the WWE, I miss it and but I’ll tell you what, I didn’t think I would have made it. I don’t think I would have made it. I was eyeing football season right around the corner. Yeah. It’s going to be — I don’t know if I’m going to be able to survive this thing.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
