For WWE SmackDown Throwback edition on Friday, May 7, Pat McAfee was ready to go full Vince McMahon.
Fans saw McAfee dressed as McMahon for the opening segment of the show and WWE released footage of McAfee arriving at the arena doing his best Vince impression. The bit was going to go even further but was canceled at the last minute.
Speaking on his Pat McAfee Show, McAfee detailed everything that went into creating the bit.
"On Friday, to commit to a bit of being Vince McMahon on SmackDown Throwback, I was bullied into shaving my face. Michael Cole was one of the leaders of that bullying. I thought it was Be A Star. Michael Cole goes, 'You could commit and shave your face.' Cole had an awesome look as well, which didn't make it to air. He had the frosted tips and he committed to 1999 Michael Cole. We had the wig, which was too small for my head and it felt like my forehead was in a rear-naked choke. We had the suit, the tie, I wore dress shoes for the first time. A lot of people in WWE were like, 'this is awesome. We'll remember this and you doing it for the character and the bit.' I shaved, it looked terrible. I got makeup on, we shot a bunch of shit. I did an entire Vince McMahon thing. Immediately following, literally, as soon as I walked off-screen, Foxy [McAfee Show Video Producer Evan Fox] gets a text from someone that works at WWE [saying] 'hang tight.' I go, 'Oh, Vince is coming?' No, that's not the case. They come out and everything has been canceled. I walk back into the building and everyone who was motivating me to shave my face, they heard about what happened, and were like, 'Sorry, so sorry, it'll grow back.' FOUR DAYS! NOTHING! THAT BEARD WAS OLDER THAN JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! I look like I'm twelve," he said.
McAfee continued to rant and laugh about being 'bullied' and having no facial hair, saying it would take 40 years to grow back. He hopes to have some stubbled by football season and also wanted some prop facial hair so he could look like himself again.
His mom loved his shaved face.
When discussing how he got into the character of Vince, McAfee said, "I was watching film. I didn't think I did enough research before Friday, but once I got to Friday, it hit me. 'I'm Vince McMahon, on Vince's show, in front of Vince.' Vince doesn't like that type of shit. He doesn't like acknowledgment or to be thanked by people or mentioned by people. I was going to be coming out like 'YOU'RE.....FIRED!' I had a moment like, 'this could be real bad.' I started watching videos. The walk, he has a little D'Lo Brown with the head movement. I was excited. I thought there was a chance we do something magical and all of a sudden...it's over."
While the bit was canceled, it's possible fans see McAfee's transformation as cameras were following him.
"WWE was following me around all day to create like a documentary of me becoming Vince McMahon. That's real. It should be shown, the depths that we went to to make this happen, and then it immediately getting flipped on its head. Would have been cool, maybe next time," he said.
McAfee went on to say that no one was more upset about the canceled bit than Cole, who was also ready to commit and that no one commits to something more than Cole. McAfee also noted that Cole had an entirely different intro planned, which also didn't make it onto the show.
You can watch McAfee as McMahon in the video above.
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