SI

Mini Movie of Pat McAfee’s Surprise Appearance at ‘WrestleMania’ Is a Must-Watch

Also in Traina Thoughts: Huge NBA drama; MLB rules changes across the board are having an impact, NBA ROY controversy and more.

Jimmy Traina

Mini Movie of Pat McAfee’s Surprise Appearance at ‘WrestleMania’ Is a Must-Watch
Mini Movie of Pat McAfee’s Surprise Appearance at ‘WrestleMania’ Is a Must-Watch /

1. I realize that some of you reading this don’t follow wrestling, don’t care about wrestling and aren’t interested in wrestling. And that’s why this video is so good—because even if you fall into that category, you will still enjoy watching this behind-the-scenes look at Pat McAfee’s WrestleMania day.

McAfee’s appearance on Night 1 of WrestleMania was a surprise for WWE fans. He was not promoted nor advertised to be at the event. He ended up coming out for a segment with The Miz, which also featured Niners tight end George Kittle.

In the video made by McAfee’s team, the curtain is pulled back, and you see what the sports media personality had to go through to keep his appearance a surprise. As McAfee is flying to Los Angeles for the event, he reveals that only three people knew he was going to be at WrestleMania. You see his stealth arrival at SoFi Stadium and his jaunt to a bus, where, according to McAfee, he hung out for “six to 10 hours” until hitting the ring for his segment.

We also see Kittle crash McAfee’s bus for a pre-Mania embrace and the moment McAfee went from bus to ring while covered in a hoodie and blanket and using his iPhone flashlight to be able to see where he’s going.

The entire video is extremely well done and worth your time, wrestling fan or not.

Between his daily show, which is a huge hit, and his gig as a panelist on the iconic College GameDay, it would be very easy for McAfee to shun the WWE, so it’s very cool to see how much passion he still has for wrestling and what wrestling means to him.

2. MLB’s rules changes have had a major impact—all positive—two weeks into the season.

3. One of the best things that happens sometimes when athletes feud is someone getting hit with a stray out of nowhere and then that person has to jump in.

Former Wizards teammates, Spencer Dinwiddie and Kyle Kuzma have been feuding since Dinwiddie, after he left Washington, said Kuzma was not interested in winning.

Earlier this week, Dinwiddie appeared on FanDuel TV and said of Kuzma, “I think if you look at him and the way he approaches life, fame all that stuff, then we can see that his priorities tend to vary. That’s why he dresses the way he does, he approaches basketball the way he does, the comments he makes.”

Kuzma then fired back with a lengthy Twitter thread.

Dinwiddie then fired back when he met with the press following the Nets’ practice Thursday and dragged former Laker Rick Fox into the drama.

Naturally, Fox then took to Twitter to say his piece.

This all seems like it should be a reality show on Bravo.

4. Give Salt Lake City Tribune NBA writer Andy Larsen credit. It was revealed that Larsen is the lone writer to not vote for Orlando’s Paolo Banchero for Rookie of the Year. Larsen went with Utah’s Walker Kessler, which, of course, outraged some people.

Larsen did not run and hide. He responded to people on Twitter for a good part of Thursday. 

Larsen’s feed is worth checking out to see how he replied to so many critics, and he did an excellent job handling all sorts of replies.

5. Fred VanVleet went viral in early March when he blasted an official during a hilarious postgame press conference.

VanVleet gave another great performance Tuesday when discussing athletes dealing with social media.

6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with Jim Nantz, who did not hold back on a variety of topics, including:

• Was his “on the CW” comment regarding Brooks Kopeka a shot at LIV

• Did CBS snub Phil Mickelson during the final round of the Masters

• What was it like calling his final NCAA tournament

• What does he think of the Tony Romo backlash

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: This video is a couple of months old, but it popped up on my TikTok this week, and it’s so good. If you ever watched Stanley Tucci’s CNN show or any of his TikTok videos, you know Tucci has a very distinct way of speaking and cooking. 

And this guy couldn’t have done a better imitation.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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