Pat McAfee: 'Pro Wrestling Is Something I Always Wanted to Do'

Editor’s Note: Colts punter and perennial funnyman Pat McAfee recently tweeted some intriguing news.

3 1/2 hours later… Yup… I have a professional wrestling ring pic.twitter.com/Ep9G9vsEIR

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 22, 2014

Which reminded me of an interview for his IM profile (“Kickin’ It with Pat McAfee,” December 2012), in which he recounted the time, just ahead of the 2009 NFL draft, when he appeared in a pro-wrestling match. Here, in McAfee’s own words, is what went down.

So, I’m a big believer in doing everything. I want to do absolutely everything. There’s so much cool shit you can do, so why not?

Professional wrestling is something I always wanted to do. I thought that would be awesome. Because I was a fan when I was a kid, you know?

So a little wrestling organization came to Morgantown when I was there [attending West Virginia University]. I was a junior or senior. Me and my friends went and had a couple of drinks, you know, and watched this little wrestling organization. It was in, like, an army gym—small, 500 people there, maybe.

We were very obviously football players, so the organizers came and talked to us. And I told one of the head guys—I was like, Man, this is awesome! Are you guys from around here? And they were like, Yeah, from southern West Virginia. And I was like, Well, I might want to come to a show again. One day, I want to wrestle.

They got ahold of me after I graduated, and they were like, What would you think about coming down and signing some autographs? See a show again. Bring some people. I was like, Absolutely I’ll do that. That period between college and the draft is the only time when you don’t have a boss. The NCAA isn’t your boss, and you don’t have a team, so you can really enjoy yourself.

So I was driving down [to Morgantown], and my agent said, Do NOT get in the ring. Do not THINK about getting in the ring.

As soon as I got there, a text message came from my agent. DO NOT GET IN THE RING. And the organizers asked, You ever think about getting in the ring? And I was like, Absolutely! Let’s do this!

They scripted the match, and we went over it for like 30 or 45 minutes. The opponent’s name was War Pig. He was the “heel.” The heel is the bad guy; the baby face is the good guy. I was the good guy.

At first, I was sitting at the autograph table—there was really nobody at the table getting autographs, but that’s neither here nor there—and War Pig’s manager called me up to the ring, and then War Pig attacked me from behind. And then the match started. And then a ref came, somehow.

I got body-slammed, took some “bumps”—a bump is whenever you fall on your back or get, like, clotheslined. We locked up. I did an up-and-over. There was some real wrestling that went on in there.

My agent—I was driving home, and he said, How’d it go? I was like, It was great. He was like, What all went down? I said, Well, I’m undefeated. He said, You got in the ring? I said, Oh, yeah, buddy!

I think he hung up on me.

I’m undefeated, much like Bill Goldberg was there for awhile. And I had a real good time. Not a lot of people can ever say they’ve been in professional wrestling.

Read more outtakes from the Pat McAfee interviews. 

Read the profile, “Kickin’ It with Pat McAfee” from the December 2012 issue.

Photos by Wil Foster; hair and makeup by Amanda Schroeder.