Pat McAfee was brought into the ESPN family because of his brash nature and ability to connect with fans. At times, that puts him at odds with the more sanitized corporate culture at ESPN.
On Wednesday, ESPN announced a landmark deal that will bring WWE Premium Live Events — including WrestleMania — to the network’s platforms beginning in 2026, per Awful Announcing.
“WWE has an immense, devoted and passionate fanbase that we’re excited to super-serve on our new ESPN DTC platform,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “This agreement, which features the most-significant WWE events of the year, bolsters our unprecedented content portfolio and helps drive our streaming future.”
It didn’t take long for McAfee to weigh in on the move, and call out the people above him at the company, whom he doesn’t exactly see eye-to-eye with.
“Congrats to (WWE and ESPN) on getting a historic PLE deal done. Great to see 2 powerhouses of sports and entertainment come together,” McAfee posted on Twitter.
“I assume all the mid level, powerless, bum ass suits at ESPN will attempt to muddy this somehow (out of context leaks/ignorant anonymous opinions/etc.) but, in the end.. this agreement will outlive the dinosaurs currently guarding desks in Bristol and this deal will be great for ESPN. Cheers to the future.”
Fans reacted to McAfee’s callout on social media.
“This will be a catastrophic failure for WWE,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“No reason to congratulate? It’s good for me as both a Disney and TKO shareholder but not for the smaller and more basic yet harder core fan. I’m not as giddy about this as a consumer who has to throw more money out there and what do you get in return?” another person wrote.
“The dinosaurs have baby dinosaurs waiting to do the same thing… Neposaurs if you will,” someone else wrote.
It’l be interesting ot see if McAfee faces punishment for his post.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.