Pat McAfee is a natural at this whole wrestling thing.
Tonight promised us a face to face between the former punter and former NXT champion Adam Cole ahead of their match at TakeOver: XXX this Saturday.
Pat walked out with some fellow NFL alums at his side, claiming he needed to neutralize the numbers that Undisputed ERA have. So Adam Cole sent his boys out of the ring, Pat did the same, and then McAfee stepped in the ring and cut a minutes long fire heel promo.
He made sure to put over his opponent as a big deal, but then put himself over as someone who’s just a level above him as a human and as an athlete. He credited himself for knocking out the longest reigning NXT champion in a matter of minutes while trying to defend the fact it was an absolute cheap shot. Just like a good heel should.
When things threatened to get physical, security tried to stop Cole from stepping to McAfee. So the Panama City Playboy took them out all by themself. This left Pat stunned, finally realizing what he’s getting into. But he didn’t oversell the fear. He still tried to play it cool but it was obvious he was worried.
Whatever happens Saturday, it’s clear that Pat McAfee is a natural. He wasn’t wrong when he told Cole that he could make this his next career no problem. (Though there’s still that whole in ring thing...)
Given how well he’s fit in and how you can tell he respects the business, I have high hopes they’ll do something special on Saturday. That they’ll put on a fun match while not making Cole look worse for selling for someone not in the business.
You can find the results from NXT tonight at the live blog here.