Why is Pat McAfee wrestling on WWE Backlash? Explaining the ESPN host's match against Gunther

The WWE is entering a weird period of its calendar. All roads led to WrestleMania in April, and now the wrestling calendar resets as they are working toward Money in the Bank and SummerSlam.

WrestleMania sets the landscape for the summer, but with so much hype around the event, it is hard to come up with exciting content to start the path into the summer. The result has been a mid-May premium live event (PLE) called Backlash, which usually includes rematches from WrestleMania in case anyone missed them, plus a few quickly thrown-together matches. 

Pat McAfee has been with the WWE since 2018, serving as a guest analyst. While he mainly provides commentary, he has been known to get in the ring. McAfee is actually a pretty talented wrestler for someone who doesn't do it professionally. 

All told, the former NFL punter has gotten into the ring seven times with the WWE, and he will be making it eight at Backlash. Here's more on why McAfee is wrestling at the May PLE. 

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Why is Pat McAfee wrestling?

Commentators in wrestling serve an important role, just like any other sport. They provide information on what is happening in the ring, while giving anecdotes about the wrestlers. Announcers also provide a pathway into advancing storylines. They can talk bad about the bad guys (heels) and hype up the good ones (faces). 

Sometimes, wrestlers end up getting commentators involved to push their heel narrative. This is what happened to McAfee on the Raw after Mania. Gunther, who had lost his championship to Jey Uso at WrestleMania, went off. He went after head commentator Michael Cole, but McAfee jumped in to help his broadcast partner. 

Gunter then put McAfee in a sleeper hold and choked him out. Raw general manager Adam Pearce suspended Gunther, but McAfee challenged him to a match. 

Has Pat McAfee wrestled before?

Yes. His first time in a ring was actually with an independent wrestling promotion in 2009. He fought a wrestler named Warpig. McAfee's first match in the WWE was on its NXT brand in 2020. 

Here is a list of the times that McAfee has wrestled. 

To fully indoctrinate McAfee into the WWE, he took a stunner from Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Who is Gunther?

Gunther is also known as "The Ring General." He is usually a no-nonsense heel who doesn't care about the fans and only cares about winning. Gunther had a lengthy streak in the WWE and consistently found ways to beat his opponents. He used to head a trio called "Imperium," but he has been more focused on his solo career recently. 

Gunther is the longest-reigning Intercontinental champion in WWE history. Now that he has turned his sights on McAfee, Raw could be down a commentator coming out of Backlash. There are rumors that McAfee may be calling in some backup in Goldberg to help him out in the match, and it will be certainly worth watching to see what happens. 

Complete Backlash details

Backlash is going to air on Saturday, May 10 at 7 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. PT. Like all of the WWE's PLE's, it will stream exclusively on Peacock in the U.S. and on Netflix internationally. Backlash will be held at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. 

Here is the 2025 Backlash card:

• John Cena vs. Randy Orton — Undisputed WWE Championship
• Lyra Valkyria vs. Becky Lynch — Women's Intercontinental Championship
• Gunther vs. Pat McAfee
• Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre vs. LA Knight vs. Damian Priest — United States Championship
• Dominik Mysterio vs. Penta — Intercontinental Championship