Pat McAfee wants NXT to be the top brand in wrestling; has no interest in RAW or SmackDown

Almost every pro-wrestler that WWE signs to put in their NXT brand is there with aspirations to eventually get the call up to join either Monday Night RAW or Friday Night SmackDown.

It’s clear that McAfee wants to stay with NXT for the foreseeable future, but it doesn’t appear that he has any interest whatsoever in a “call up” to WWE’s main roster. In fact, if he has his way, he wants to make NXT the top brand in all of professional wrestling.

Pat McAfee shares his desire to make NXT the top brand in professional wrestling

On Thursday morning on Sirius XM, McAfee joined Busted Open Radio with hosts Dave LeGreca and Bully Ray to talk about everything that’s going on with him right now in NXT. Needless to say, the former NFL punter had plenty to say.

Bully asked McAfee if he would have any interest in doing something on WWE’s main roster, with either RAW or SmackDown, instead of working NXT. McAfee was quick to shut that idea down.

“Yeah, probably not. And I’m in such a good situation where I can say that right, like I have a business, I have 10 employees. My guys and I, we go to work every single day trying to do our show, we have a merch business that does well, like literally everything I’ve said in promos is true, right, so it’s, I have a… I’m in a very lucky situation for everything that I’ve been in. And I understand that a lot of professional wrestlers aren’t, right, so I’m in a situation where I don’t say I can pick and choose, but it really is if if something gets pitched to me that I’m not 100% cool with, I am very much in a situation where I could be like no, no, it’s okay. I appreciate that.

“We’ll see if something else happens down the road and I just, I’m not. I can’t read, like I’m not a good reader. Okay, I’ve literally never read a book in my entire life and that is not something to brag about. Obviously I don’t think kids should do that. I’ve gotten really far in life not doing it, but it’s just not something I can do, it’s not my thing. I’m more of a visual and like I can hear things or. So whenever you hear about the script or anything like I don’t think I’m, I’m that good of an actor, that I could pull that off, so I don’t think it’d be good for them. I don’t think it’d be good for me.

“So it had to be a decision that gets made where it’s like, ah, that doesn’t seem like the right thing for me. Even though I know that at the current time by the way and we’re coming for that ass by the way, that the ratings are higher on those shows, we are coming for that as though on Wednesday nights I want to let everybody know that is the goal, that even though that is a bigger platform at the moment, it doesn’t feel like that’d be good for me or for them to be a part of.”

When Bully asked McAfee to elaborate on what he meant by competition for NXT, he continued by stating he wants to take over Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

“I’m talking to everybody. I like Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, I want, if I’m a part of it, and I believe in the group of people behind the scenes. And I love the team of people that are there [at NXT], I like the roster, I like the locker room, I like the in ring action, I think it’s f****** awesome, like I think there’s no reason why we can’t go for everything. Now, I’m not supposed to say that, obviously, and there’s only been a couple things that I’ve been told like please, if you’re going to say that can you reword it in a fashion, but that’s just the way I am, like if I’m coming into something I want to take over, including in NXT.

“I’ve always been that way, I’m hated by a lot of people for that reason, but I want to come for everybody. And I got a lot of respect for everybody to like I think it’s good that there’s more wrestling, I think it’s good because for me, by the way, Tuesday nights before Mac football started like, g** d***, I wish there was wrestling on like there’s when there isn’t wrestling on television. Like me and my wife, we are very bored, okay. I am a wrestling watcher so I enjoy that there’s more. But I think the mindset, my mindset, I don’t know if this is echoed throughout everybody at NXT, but I want to take over everybody. I think NXT should be the premier brand and everything.”

You can catch McAfee every Wednesday night on the USA Network for WWE NXT.

Published 15 Nov 2020, 23:50 IST