Pat McAfee Returns as Full-Time Commentator on ‘Monday Night Raw’

Pat McAfee is back in WWE. 

During Monday night’s edition of Raw, McAfee was announced as part of the shows full-time commentary team. He’ll join play-by-play man Michael Cole in an analyst role. 

McAfee has done commentary for WWE in the past, working alongside Cole on SmackDown from April 2021 to September ’22. He’s also wrestled a handful of matches for the company, including at last year’s WrestleMania where he defeated The Miz.

McAfee was announced as a “guest commentator” at Saturday’s Royal Rumble event, and made a surprise appearance in the 30-man Rumble match. McAfee said even he was surprised that he was announced as entrant No. 22 in the match. 

“Nobody gave me a heads up about that,” he said. (He didn’t see any physical action and comically eliminated himself from the match by climbing over the top rope.)

The new job adds another responsibility to McAfee’s already full plate. He hosts The Pat McAfee Show for ESPN and also serves as a panelist for the network’s College Gameday show. 

Adding McAfee to the broadcast team is part of a larger WWE announcer shakeup. Kevin Patrick, who was previously the play-by-play voice of SmackDown, was released by the company last week. Corey Graves, who had been the analyst alongside Cole on Raw, is expected to be the play-by-play man on SmackDown with Wade Barrett in the analyst chair, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reports.