Pat McAfee Reveals He Stepped Away From WWE Because He Was Mentally Exhausted

McAfee claims he “hit a wall” during his most recent spell with the company.

In June, WWE commentator Pat McAfee stepped away from the company, with Corey Graves returning to Monday Night RAW alongside Michael Cole in his absence.

During today’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show, McAfee explained his reasoning for stepping away from WWE for the time being, citing mental exhaustion and noting that he wasn’t sure he’d make it to college football season.

“I got — I got real tired, man. I crashed. You hit a wall. Yeah, I hit one. I’ve been going since Dublin. You know, and they started Raw early, and I’m like an energy guy, and I don’t need a lot of sleep to operate. Like I’ve always been that way. And then, I just got to Money in the Bank in LA. And I was on the East Coast for TST. And then I went down to Paris Island. And then I went to LA for Money in the Bank, and I could just feel it. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, my brain is not like operating right now.’ And I talked to others that have maybe experienced like mental exhaustion before, whenever they have had it. And I’ve talked to them, and I’ve been like, ‘Uh, I’m staring down what you went through there.’ Like I knew this moment was coming. Like I — I knew it was going to happen at some point, and it happens to people. So, like I talked to people about it happening and what they went through whenever it happened. And like as Money in the Bank was happening, I was like, ‘Oh my god. This is it. This is, I’ve finally hit it.’ And I never thought it was going to happen. But you add in like my daughter. Wanting to be around the daily, the show, the travel, and then also trying my best, and I know wrestling fans don’t think this. I think a lot of them don’t think this. The wrestling community doesn’t think this, but like, I was trying to put everybody over like maximum effort, full every time, trying to put people over to people that are watching. And it’s like, I think that with the travel with me not getting back till like 2 3:00 a.m. on Monday night, it takes a toll. Like that’s a massive deal to the WWE because everything that’s going on right now for me at the commentator position. It’s like show moves on regardless. So like the ability to not feel absolutely ****, terrible for having to take a step back because I’m tired. WWE has on the other side cuz they have such a hard work kind of mindset, and travel mindset, and they’ve been doing it for so long. They understand like people get to like, ‘Hey, yeah, we understand you might need to take a sleep for a little.’ So, they’ve been great. They’ve been great, and I will always love the WWE, I miss it and but I’ll tell you what, I didn’t think I would have made it. I don’t think I would have made it. I was eyeing football season right around the corner. Yeah. It’s going to be — I don’t know if I’m going to be able to survive this thing.”

-Pat McAfee

Prior to his hiatus, McAfee returned to the ring at WWE Backlash, losing to GUNTHER via submission.

McAfee also noted that Nick Khan helped him get out of his WWE obligations, with the former NFL punter set to be part of the College GameDay panel beginning on August 30th.

H/T to 411Mania for the transcription.