Pat McAfee’s reaction to Michael Cole announcing Sasha & Naomi’s suspension draws attention

Micheal Cole announced on the May 20 SmackDown that Sasha Banks & Naomi were stripped of the WWE Women’s Tag titles and indefinitely suspended from the company for walking out of the previous Monday’s Raw. The news itself wasn’t too surprising. But the wording of the announcement — which, based on reports about Corey Graves’ handling of the Banks & Naomi situation earlier in the week, likely came from Vince McMahon himself — left a lot of fans taken aback, or otherwise struggling to come to terms with how much invective it contained.

We don’t want to try to read anyone’s mind, but a lot of people noticed that Cole’s commentary partner Pat McAfee seemed to be among those unsure how to process what he was hearing about the two performers.

Again, not going to read anyone’s mind. If McAfee wants to go on record with his thoughts about the situation, I’m sure he will.

But I will point out that Pat retired from the NFL at 29 years old after clashing with the man who was General Manager for much of his time with the Indianapolis Colts, saying, “I don’t think the NFL is for me anymore, and to be honest, I don’t think I want to make money for you guys anymore. And I am done after this season.’” Then two years later left Barstool Sports with a similar message, “I began being disrespected by the business people in the building. I’ve decided I don’t want to make money for those folks anymore.” And almost ended his WWE career when it was just getting started because he didn’t like the way Cole spoke to him about a miscommunication at WrestleMania 35.

So I don’t think it’s wrong to wonder if Pat Mac might feel some kind of way about an employer publicly slamming his employees, even if he didn’t agree with Sasha & Naomi’s decision to walk out.

At some point, I imagine McAfee will tell us. Until he does, the internet will do what the internet does.