Pat McAfee Reflects On WWE SummerSlam Match, Says He Had Never Hit The Code Red Before

Pat McAfee stepped into a WWE ring as part of the main roster for the second time in his career at WWE SummerSlam, taking on Happy Corbin. 

McAfee previously wrestled at WrestleMania, defeating Theory before losing to Vince McMahon. McAfee turned in another performance that was praised by fans and peers, picking up a victory over Corbin and remaining unbeaten in sanctioned competition according to him. 

Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show, McAfee reflected on his SummerSlam bout. 

“I did do the Swanton Bambini. I will say, I did not expect the ring posts to look the way they looked when I was climbing up there. There were some moments in that match where I was like, ‘should have prepared differently.’ For instance, walking into the stadium, I took a nice deep breath of the humid air. It was thick. Sauna thick. It was supposed to rain. Projections of the weather for two weeks, a week out, even the morning of, ‘rain is coming.’ Whenever it’s hot and rain is coming, that means it’s humid as fuck. I didn’t think about that as I was training in my basement and air conditioning. That hit me day of. ‘This is not an arena or enclosed. It’s going to be hot as fuck.’ I’m walking around, sweating, and haven’t done anything. I started to hydrate, hammer water and Gatorade,” he said.

McAfee continued, explaining how the sweat on the ropes nearly led to disaster on a couple of occasions. 

“A lot of offense off the ropes. Ropes are wet, a little slick, the shoes I was wearing, had not worn them on ropes. A lot of things, as they are happening, I’m thinking, ‘Fucking idiot. You are so dumb.’ I go for the base jump to catch Bum Ass Cobrin off top. I felt really good about that as I was flying through the air. Left foot on first, whoosh, I felt like I had nothing under me. Luckily, grab onto him like I’m a koala bear. Hang onto him, bruise up the shins on the ropes. As it is happening, they say you have so much adrenaline you don’t feel anything, that’s a lie. As my shins were bouncing on the ropes, ‘Oh, I’ve never been hurt so bad.’ Suplex happens, I thought it was over there,” he said. 

Corbin managed to kick out of the top rope suplex, leading to the two going outside and McAfee setting up for the Swanton Bambini. 

“As I’m climbing up there, I’m like, ‘Oh no, foot slipping a little bit on the second rope.’ I get up on the third rope and I’m like, ‘Ohhhh no, I should have done a little bit more work in these shoes on top.’ I was too Italian, I went too hard with the, ‘Hey, how you doing? Keep it moving,’ and it threw me off. I felt the gravy of the humidity running me down. Once I caught one brief second, BOOM, out of nowhere on Corbin. Hit that thing perfect, exactly how I wanted to hit it. Felt good about it. Some people were tweeting me, giving me way too much credit. ‘Did you see him make it appear as if he was off balance so he could keep us on the edge of seat? That is what it’s all about.’ That was not the case. If you could’ve heard what was going on in-between my ears when I was up there. Immediate regret is the sound of what was talking in my brain. Happy the body was able to figure it out. Left foot rebalances on the rope a little further down. That could have been catastrophic. If there was any on that one [the right foot], you’re talking full split, I’m down. I’m very thankful for the ropes, making it happen up there,” he said.

Back inside the ring, Charles Robinson was knocked down, allowing McAfee to get revenge by kicking Corbin in the nuts, setting up the Code Red finish. 

“Not a destroyer. Code Red. Had I ever done it before to anybody? Nope, but it felt like the right time and right place. Wasn’t the cleanest match I’ve ever had. I certainly wasn’t prepared for the humidity. I’m pumped to get out of there with a dub,” he said.

McAfee thanked the Music City Chorus choir for performing his entrance and the fans for bringing the electricity. He also noted that Jimmy Uso gave him the chain he was wearing for the match. 

If you missed anything from WWE SummerSlam, check out Fightful’s full report on the show by clicking here. 

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