Pat McAfee is enjoying the praise he’s received for his performance at NXT TakeOver XXX before thinking about his next move inside of a squared circle. That being said, he is confident that you will see him perform in WWE again.
Speaking with CBS Sports, Pat McAfee talked about being a lifelong WWE fan and credited Raw Superstar Shelton Benjamin as the inspiration for his top rope dive this past Saturday.
“Being a fan, you always have those freak athletes,” McAfee said. “Shelton Benjamin is obviously the guy that made the leap up to the top rope something awesome. Being a fan, I was always drawn to the people who were very athletic. Granted, you have to be able to talk and all that to put on a good show, but for me, I enjoyed the athleticism of people. I always had these grand visions of if I ever got into a ring what I would like to do and what I think I could do if I ever got a chance to try it in a match.
“I think when I was flying through the air on that backflip, when he pushed me off, I think there were a couple moments there where I thought, ‘Oh, I’m flying through the air right now, this is pretty cool.’ I had never done that before, so I had no idea if I was going to land it or not. Happily, I stuck the landing. Getting back up there to do the Shelton Benjamin jump to do the superplex, going into the corner there, there was a little bit of wonder on whether or not I was going to be able to get up there. But it worked out, and I’m very thankful for that.”
McAfee stuck more than the landing and many in the WWE Universe and beyond we’re pleasantly surprised with what they saw from the former NFL punter at NXT TakeOver XXX.
As for what’s next, Triple H said on a post-show media call that he and McAfee would be discussing plans for the future. McAfee acknowledges this but admits that he mostly wants to enjoy all of the praise coming from his first-ever performance before looking towards the future.
“It’s very interesting because Triple H referenced a conversation he and I had a couple years ago when I first got a chance to work the kickoff shows for NXT,” McAfee said. “I told him I wanted to be a weapon for WWE, and how I wanted him to induct me in the WWE Hall of Fame, and so much has happened since that conversation. The thought of me ever getting a chance to get in the ring — this Adam Cole situation, the way it all kind of happened was just the perfect opportunity for that to happen. But the conversation about what happens after, it never really happened.
“For me, I never even really thought about it. I talked this morning on my show about how it was such a cool bucket list thing for me because I’ve dreamed about it since I was 10 or 11 years old. Now we’re at the point where, yeah, it was awesome. Do I want to do it again? I don’t know, I think? A lot of my friends that I have that are in the business are like, ‘Oh, wait until you see what it’s like in front of a crowd.’ I’m like, ‘Wait, I don’t know that that’s going to happen.’ But they said, ‘No, you have to do it in front of a crowd.’ I think that’s all up in the air right now. I’m not 100 percent sure what’s going to happen. I assume Mr. H and I are going to have a conversation about that at some point. But right now, I’m just trying to enjoy the hell out of the moment and just enjoy that I was able to perform at TakeOver: XXX.”
You can check out that post-show media call with Triple H at this link.
