When Pat McAfee landed another of his dream jobs on ESPN College Gameday, he went on hiatus from SmackDown. WWE shook up their announce teams. Wade Barrett moved up from NXT to take his spot next to Michael Cole on Friday nights, and WWE Hall of Famer took Barrett’s spot on Tuesday nights.
There’s only one college football game left in the 2022-2023 season, the National Championship game next Monday night (Jan. 9). McAfee hasn’t mentioned anything about rejoining WWE on a full-time basis, though. And now we have Booker saying he’s keeping the NXT gig — although he did laugh a lot while telling his Hall of Fame podcast partner Brad Gilmore that, and he’s been known to enjoy working the masses just because.
The Houstonian didn’t know what that means for Barrett. He loses points for not using the phrase “bad news”, though.
Here’s what Book said:
“I gotta get back to work. NXT duties start tomorrow. My thing is, that job was only supposed to be until the end of December. But like I say, what’s that kid’s name that used to work there?… Yeah, yeah, Wade Barrett. He’s gone and forgotten as you can see [laughs].
“That’s my job now. That’s my job, full-time… I’m full-time now. I’m full-time on NXT, all right? I’m gonna be up in your ear, all up in your ear, every Tuesday [laughs] … Wade Barrett, I don’t know if they’re gonna keep him on, find a spot for him over on Raw or SmackDown or something but his ass ain’t coming back to NXT… He’s finished, he’s wrapped… Bad news for you, Booker T has stole that spot and I told you guys I was gonna steal it. I told you guys I was gonna steal it.
“You don’t give me a job and expect for somebody to come — I’m like Tom Brady. Once I get in the game, I ain’t coming out… And the thing is, it wasn’t something I was expecting or anything like that but I’m excited about it, I’m excited about this new venture.“
If McAfee’s many other endeavors will make it impossible for him to work every Friday night, Wade may just be staying in his current spot, too.
NXT will air its first live episode in three weeks tonight. Perhaps we’ll find out more about Booker and Barrett’s futures then.
Loading comments...