Pat McAfee opened up about the original idea of participating in the Royal Rumble and keeping Saturday’s return a surprise.
On his program on Monday, McAfee noted there was a lot of speculation that he would appear in the Royal Rumble match and that was the goal.
When McAfee took a temporary leave from Friday Night SmackDown to be part of College Gameday, it was left with the plan of McAfee returning in the Rumble match due to the timing of the college football season ending and the time of the year for returns.
McAfee informed WWE around late November or early December that the season had been a grind and he wouldn’t be able to add more hours to his day to keep training and be in proper shape for the match. He said he didn’t want to disrespect the match or the people in it, noting there are only so many spots available.
Instead, it was decided he would return to call the show, but few people were made aware of the plan and did not include Michael Cole, who found out at the same time as everyone else watching the broadcast.
McAfee had flight issues on Saturday with the plane’s wing damaged and had to find an alternate means to get to San Antonio and didn’t land until approximately twenty-eight minutes before walking out at the Alamodome.
McAfee credited Kevin Dunn with assisting with his travel issues on the day of the show and also was very complimentary towards Nick Khan.
