WWE today announced that Pat McAfee has joined the Smackdown broadcast team and will be replacing Corey Graves on the announce table with Michael Cole.

The former Indianapolis Colts NFL player has enjoyed a good relationship over the years with WWE and has appeared numerous times on NXT, even wrestling twice for the black and gold brand.

“For as long as I can remember WWE has been a company that I have admired, both for its incredible staying power of creating riveting entertainment and for its ability to connect people all over the globe,” McAfee said in a press release. “I’ve been fortunate to try a lot of cool professions but working for WWE was the one I looked forward to most. I am incredibly honored and grateful for the chance to give back to the business that has given me and many others so much and having the opportunity to sit at the same table that legends have graced is truly a dream come true. Now let’s go get it.”

McAfee uploaded a video on his Twitter showing Vince McMahon saying “Pat McAfee…you’re hired” as he sat along with Michael Cole and Adam Pearce.

The charismatic athlete has done commentary on Smackdown once before when the majority of the roster was stuck in Saudi Arabia in 2019 and WWE had to quickly assemble a team for the broadcast.

WWE shook up its commentary teams this week, hiring Adnan Virk as the new lead Raw commentator along with Corey Graves and Byron Saxton. Samoa Joe, who provided color commentary for Raw, was fired yesterday.

https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1383027420991750146