Pat McAfee Says Creative Freedom Needs To Be Earned
Pat McAfee is set to compete at WrestleMania 38, as revealed by Vince McMahon when he appeared on his show this month. McAfee will face Austin Theory, and he talked about this match and more when he appeared as a guest on Busted Open Radio this week.
McAfee hyped up his match against Theory and also discussed creative freedom in WWE. McAfee said that he has a good relationship with a producer at the company, who has been in the business for a long time. McAfee said that even though he and the producer are opposites, he always made sure to say hello to him because he has enjoyed his work as a fan. McAfee then further talked about creative freedom saying that it isn’t as bad as people outside WWE make it out to be.
“For a couple of years now, I’ve gotten a chance to chat with said producer. I think he understands me pretty good,” Pat McAfee said. “Austin Theory, he’s just going to get his ass beat. There hasn’t been anything yet in this entire WWE existence that I’ve said, ‘Hey, we should try this’ that has been completely ruled out. There has been a couple things that I have brought to the forefront and said, ‘This would be cool,’ and I’ve been told, ‘that might be happening…we have to dance around.’ Cool, I completely understand. I feel like the creative and conversation get pooped on a lot outside of WWE. Going in, I assumed that everything was going to be impossible.”
McAfee added that he is a creative person and therefore his ideas are also good when he puts them forward. McAfee essentially made the point that people who cry about not getting creative freedom in WWE were just pitching bad ideas. McAfee also said that freedom has to be earned and it’s not just handed to you.
“I thought I was going in there and it was going to be tooth and nail trying to get everything done. I haven’t experienced that at all. I know other people haven’t had the exact same results, but I’m also not 100% sure that people have what I’m bringing to the table as well. That gets lost in a lot of the conversation. If you don’t like what’s going on, you can leave. I did that to the NFL, I did that to Barstool, a couple different places. Freedom is something you earn, it’s not something you’re given. I’m very fortunate to be at that particular spot. The people I’m working with for this match are awesome. We’re going to put together a classic, we’re going to try out best at least, to do WrestleMania some respect.”
Pat McAfee will face Austin Theory on Night Two of WrestleMania 38 on April 3. After Vince McMahon personally invited McAfee to compete at WrestleMania, Theory belittled the SmackDown commentator just one night later. McAfee has competed on NXT, with his most memorable appearance being at NXT TakeOver WarGames 2020. Other matches on the same night include WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns in a Winner Takes All match to unify the titles, Bobby Lashley vs. Omos, Edge vs. AJ Styles, and Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn among others.
