WWE COO Paul "Triple H" Levesque heaped plenty of praise on his main roster talent during the newly-released second season of "WWE Unreal" on Netflix, and one of those stars was commentator and sometimes in-ring performer Pat McAfee. The first episode of the new season was mostly devoted to Becky Lynch and her real-life husband Seth Rollins and their WrestleMania 41 moments, but moved into WWE Backlash 2025, where McAfee faced GUNTHER following the latter's World Heavyweight Championship loss to Jey Uso. Levesque gave the former NFL punter high praise before the show moved in to more about the logistics of how the match came together.
"Pat McAfee is the face of WWE to a lot people," he said. "Pat's association with us goes back quite a way. I was vaguely aware of who he was, I knew he was a kicker for the Colts. It's been incredible to see him go from like, little podcaster to NFL stuff to ESPN, to like just keep blowing up along the way."
McAfee found himself in the match with GUNTHER after "The Ring General" confronted Michael Cole on commentary. GUNTHER thought Cole was mocking him for his 'Mania loss against Uso, and McAfee stood up for his friend, resulting in him being choked out on an episode of "WWE Raw." The punter-turned-ESPN host took a loss to GUNTHER at Backlash, but following the match, where McAfee was choked out again, GUNTHER showed him respect.
The "ESPN College GameDay" has been on hiatus from WWE since the summer of 2025. He was last seen on commentary at Wrestlepalooza to kick of WWE's era of premium live events on ESPN, though left the desk halfway through the event.
