This week on “After The Bell,” Corey Graves welcomed Pat McAfee to the show.
McAfee is coming off his in-ring debut against Adam Cole at NXT TakeOver: XXX. He discussed the match and the reaction to it from fans, football and much more.
Check out some of the highlights below:
McAfee talked about the incident he had with Michael Cole at WrestleMania in New Orleans: “It was my first time doing a kickoff show. Michael Cole called me a week beforehand. He asked if I wanted to come down and be part of our NXT panel for NXT TakeOver. ‘We saw what you did at the live event in Indianapolis a couple months ago and wondered if you would want to do that.’ I said yes. I would love to. However, I could be a part of this business, I would love to. So shout out to Michael Cole for making that happen. Then I go down there and commentators are always in a suit and tie. Everybody is dressed very nicely. That is not how I operate. I don’t even know how to tie a tie. I wore tuxedo shorts at my wedding. The first time I went down there at WrestleMania Takeover in New Orleans, I had shorts on with a sports coat and a tie and a button down. I said, I am business on top, party on the bottom. I’m trying to set a precedent on how I am going to dress because if I go in there with a full suit, then that’s the expectation. I don’t own enough suits to do that. I don’t even know how to tie a tie. I had Sam Roberts tie my tie the first time. I finally got to the next WrestleMania in New York. I got there and I was told leading up to it, no shorts. You can’t wear shorts for this. You are going to be on the WrestleMania Kickoff show on the USA network. No shorts. I said I’m not going to wear shorts. Don’t worry about it. I get to WrestleMania. I understand this is a big deal. I’m pumped to be a part of it. I go and get tailored. This is one of my first times I went to a tailor. I get this tux and tuxedo shorts made. I get these very expensive shoes. In my eyes, I put a real effort into this. These are not shorts, these are tuxedo shorts. Big people wear these. I’m sitting around WrestleMania day wearing the same thing for 5 hours. Now we are 30 minutes before showtime and Michael sees me for the first time and he starts chewing me out. In hindsight, I understand. WrestleMania is a lot of pressure on Michael Cole. The last thing he wants to deal with is one of his commentators being the reason he gets yelled at by Vince for ruining a kickoff show. In hindsight, I know that. But at the time, I had been there for 5 hours sweating my ass off. I’m excited and pumped to be there. He starts yelling at me saying I look unprofessional. I look at him and think, who are you talking to? He was mad. He was not happy with me. He said no shorts, he never said no tuxedo shorts. I tried to explain that to him but at the time. I got sent back in the dressing room after there was quite a bit of take between me and Michael Cole. He had to go talk to Vince because I had no other backup. I had no other clothes. We were 20 minutes before showtime so there really was nothing anybody could do. They had to go ask Vince if it was ok. I was told that Vince’s words were, I’m hip. He looks good.”
You can listen to the entire interview via your favorite podcasting app.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit After The Bell with Corey Graves with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
