Pat McAfee almost walked out of WrestleMania 35 on Sunday night after an argument with Michael Cole.
McAfee noted that he wore a tuxedo and he was specifically told no jorts so he wore tuxedo pants and turned them into shorts.
McAfee had previously been part of the NXT TakeOver pre-shows but this was his first time doing a Kickoff show for the main roster and it just happened to be for WrestleMania, WWE’s biggest show of the year in front of 80,000+ fans.
McAfee said Vince McMahon didn’t say a word to him during rehearsals because he looked busy but Michael Cole called him on the phone “panicking with the entire McMahon family in the guerilla [position]” with Superstars and celebrities in the area.
McAfee recounts Cole telling him, “‘I told you no shorts!’ I said you told me no jorts. He said ‘you look unprofessional, you look sloppy.’ He was like yelling at me in front of all these people that I looked up to.”
He continued, “He was like yelling. This wasn’t like a rib, or like a gimmick, you could tell there was actual panic,” McAfee said.
McAfee said he felt like he could have been told earlier because he was wearing the outfit for about 10 hours and it was 45 minutes before the show when Cole yelled at him.
“I then walked back to where watch-a-long was happening and I grabbed my bag and I told the digital guy … I said ‘you can tell Michael Cole to go f**k himself. I am leaving. I am not getting punked and yelled at like a child in front of everybody. You guys think I’m some schlub. This is a second job to me, I’m very lucky to be here, very excited to here but I’m not going to get yelled at like I’m a f**king child.”
McAfee said the digital guy quarantined him in a room for kids and he took of picture of himself at how ridiculous he looked in the room.
McAfee says he was told that Vince McMahon was shown a photo of Lebron James wearing a short suit and Vince McMahon said, “yea, I’m hip, I’ve seen it.”
“I guess Vince said he loved it,” McAfee said.
McAfee said Cole later apologized. “They come back, Michael Cole comes back and gives me one of the realest apologies I’ve ever got in my entire life.”
He said Cole told him it’s been a long and stressful week and he was worried about McAfee ruining the gig for himself because he didn’t think McMahon would react well because it would have been the first time McMahon would have seen him on TV.
McAfee said he thanked Cole for the apology.
Watch McAfee tell the story in the video below:
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