Pat McAfee Says It’s Hard To Say If AEW Can Compete With WWE

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Pat McAfee spoke about the possibility that AEW could compete with WWE, saying that he’s not sure if any promotion could do that. Here are highlights:

On his WWE goals: “It’s every kid’s dream…to one day become a Superstar or commentator. I think maybe there’s a chance in the future for both of those things. They might try me out on some things if I do well…Right now we’re just seeing what works, seeing what fits, see what they hate, see what they love and see what can grow. I have dreams and aspirations of taking a stroll down the ramp at a pay-per-view setting. Everybody has those dreams as a kid and that’d be really cool. Hopefully I can end up in the WWE Hall of Fame one day.”

On his wrestling training: “I bought a wrestling ring in either my third or fourth year in the league. I had it built in my barn and didn’t use it much except for at parties when my friends kids would want to get in there. As soon as I retired a guy named Rip Rogers who used to train at OVW and lives 10 minutes from my house would chit-chat with me about “rasslin’.” He would train me like 3-4 times a week to get me in shape and to see if I ever wanted to do it if I could do it or not. I was getting my ass kicked, getting chopped and having bruises on my chest, but I was having a blast.”

On Adam Cole: “[Cole’s] a guy that I would love to see do very well, and whenever that happens, I get a chance to run down and give a swift kick to the face. It would be a good time.”

On if AEW can compete with WWE: “I have no clue, honestly. More wrestling as a fan is good especially now that I’m watching more and more stuff. I think it’s very hard to say that anybody’s going to be able to compete with the WWE. I just think it’s gonna be difficult to do that. That’s just like the AAF or XFL attempting to compete with the NFL right out of the gate. I think what AEW has done on social media is impressive. I think the amount of interest they’ve garnered is impressive. Being able to sell out arenas is incredible but WWE is at the top of the mountain for a reason. I think it’s great for fans and professional wrestlers but I think saying they’re gonna compete with WWE is a wild, wild amount of pressure to be putting on AEW whenever they haven’t even gone on TV yet.”