Pat McAfee On The Return Of The XFL And His Possible Involvement, Why He Turned Down AAF Deal

By Ross Kelly

After a couple of impressive showings as a pre-show panelist for NXT TakeOver events, Pat McAfee has signed a multi-year contract with WWE and will be involved in a number of projects.

McAfee may work in broadcasting now, but he made his name as a Pro Bowl punter in the NFL. He spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast to discuss the return of the XFL and how his campaign to join the Monday Night Football broadcast booth went.

"The campaign went pretty good. I have no idea if I'll get into the booth but the campaign did okay," stated McAfee.

"That would be an insane opportunity if I got to do that? but I don't think I'm gonna get that gig. I think it's a long shot but I'd still be able to work with the WWE if I did which is cool because there's a non-exclusive deal with the WWE. They want me to do stuff like this and they want me to continue to make content for WWE, so it's a win-win."

The XFL is set for its relaunch in 2020 which comes one year after the AAF recently launching. McAfee shared his thoughts on both fledgling football leagues.

"The AAF offered me a commentating spot for their league and it was literally the day after I signed my deal with the WWE... I said no because I knew that the XFL would be launching in a year from now. So I didn't want to help launch a new league that would be in competition with the XFL," said McAfee.

The original XFL lasted just one season but society has changed since then and McAfee is confident that Vince McMahon won't fail twice.

"I think the XFL has a good chance," stated McAfee. "With the way sports gambling is coming to be and the people they have running that league, I think Vince does not want to fail again.

"If I'm a part of it, I have no idea. Obviously if I'm with the Monday Night Football booth, which is a long shot, but if I'm there I'm not sure I could. I'll be a fan of the XFL and if they want me to do something, then I'd love to?not to play. I'm not gonna play. I'm done with that but everything else is fair game."

McAfee knows first-hand how the NFL operates and he shed some light on things the XFL can do differently, and perhaps better, than the NFL.

"I feel like the AAF has been a test on a few things for the NFL like getting rid of the kickoff and having the ball at the 25 is going to expedite the whole process. That seems to be working with the AAF and fans don't even notice the kickoff is missing," said McAfee.

"With the XFL, I think the engagement with the fans is something that could really help out. There's gonna be an active fan base but there are some things you could do to be a little more engaged with the fans, but also self-awareness is a big deal.

"But most importantly, you've gotta have good football and that's what the AAF is suffering from. There's not really great football happening so you've gotta get good coaches to do that. But if you can find a good alternative from the NFL, people are going to watch and I think that's what the XFL is looking to do. We'll see."

McAfee was also on hard to plug Naturdays which is a new natural light beer produced by Anheuser-Busch.

"Natty Light is the go-to for most drinking games because it's just so smooth down the gulp?.The Naturdays keeps the smooth flavor and taste, but now it adds a little strawberry-lemonade so when the sun's out a little bit, I think it's gonna be enjoyable for everybody," said McAfee.

McAfee has teamed up with Natural Light to promote their new Naturdays strawberry lemonade beer. Naturdays will be included in Natural Light's variety-77 pack that will only be available in South Padre, TX for spring break. Naturdays is now available and you can find Pat's Naturdays story in the embedded tweet below:

Pat's full interview with Wrestling Inc was recently included in an episode of our WINCLY podcast. You can listen to it in the embedded player below. In it Pat discusses Sam Roberts' recent controversial comments about Bianca Belair on a Takeover Kick-Off Show panel, Tommaso Ciampa's injury, the rough response the NXT Superstars got from Lafayette on RAW, possibly stepping in the ring for an NXT match, the return of the XFL, his possible involvement in the XFL and more.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.

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