Triple H reveals Pat McAfee returning to WWE Raw full time

WWE COO Paul “Triple H” Levesque revealed Tuesday that Pat McAfee will return to “Monday Night Raw” in a full-time capacity.

Levesque did not specify exactly when McAfee will begin making appearances for the company. McAfee will commentate alongside longtime announcer Michael Cole, Levesque added.

“Letting the cat out of the bag a little bit right now. Pat’s actually about to come back with us here, full-time on Monday Night Raw,” Levesque said at a Netflix media event in Los Angeles, via Jeremy Lambert of Fightful.

McAfee, 37, previously served as a commentator for “Friday Night SmackDown” alongside Cole from April 2021 to September 2022. McAfee took a hiatus from the company after joining “College GameDay,” making sporadic appearances until surprising a crowd of 48,044 at Tropicana Field this past January for the Royal Rumble premium live event, joining Cole and Corey Graves on commentary. Two nights later, McAfee made his full-time return behind the desk for “Raw,” once again paired up with Cole.

Pat McAfee set for ‘WWE Raw’ return alongside Michael Cole

Prior to the Aug. 19 show in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, McAfee announced it would be his “last Monday Night Raw Monday for a bit.” McAfee has been away from the company since as the college football season has gone into full swing. The former NFL punter also hosts “The Pat McAfee Show” Monday-Friday from 12-3 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+.

With McAfee and Cole teaming up on “Raw,” that would make it likely that Joe Tessitore, the ESPN college football play-by-play man who signed with the company in July, and Wade Barrett would move over to “SmackDown.”

“Raw,” which currently airs on USA Network, will soon make the jump to Netflix. The first episode will air live on Jan. 6 from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The 2025 Royal Rumble will be held on Feb. 1 inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis where McAfee starred as a member of the Colts.