Pat McAfee Quotes

I didn't mind when Paul Wight came to me and said WWE offered him $1 million a year for ten years. I was like, 'Dude, you need to take that. You need to go now. Lemme give you a ride to the airport.'

Really, it was either fight in the UFC or fight in the WWE. There wasn't the option of both. That was a key factor. What am I going to do? I didn't want to juggle two careers anyway.

I had the greatest deal in the history of professional wrestling. I could work for WWE, anybody else that I wanted to, and collect income from every one of those companies, including merchandise. It was a really good deal.

Around 2005, UFC offered me a chance to fight for them. But, at that moment, I was under contract with NJPW, and I decided to stay in pro-wrestling. It was a good opportunity, but I don't regret my choice.

WWE asked me to be a coach 3 times before I left.

The fact is, there's a ton of opportunities out there now for professional wrestlers which, when I was coming through, weren't really there. The only game in town realistically was WWE, and it was very, very difficult to see yourself working anywhere outside of that.

Really, I didn't even want to go to WWE in 2001. I knew that it wasn't my favorite style, my favorite showcasing of my abilities, but it was definitely the best business move. At the time, there was nowhere else to go anyway - ECW was gone, WCW was gone. So, when I first came in, I was seriously frustrated trying to adapt.

From the moment I became a free agent, the WWE opportunity was the one I wanted. Obviously, there were strong plays made by some other companies, but in the end, when WWE offered me an opportunity, I could not turn it down.

We love to be athletic, but at the same time, we love to entertain. So my sister was actually looking to play pro soccer in Italy, and I convinced her. I said, 'Please, there's this thing called WWE Diva Search. I really want to go. I think we can do this.' And sure enough, they gave my sister and me a shot.

When I left WWE, TNA offered me a deal. It was a sweet deal: ya sit at home the majority of the year. Just show up every now and then and make some money. That was a sweet deal for me; that was like a vacation.

People always said during the Monday Night Wars that the only way we were able to compete was due to a large checkbook and deep pockets. That's not very true at all. That is a false narrative designed to shape history. WWE had significant advantages over WCW and vice versa.

I love wrestling. I love WWE. I love being a part of something special every single night we go out there.

When I left West Ham in 2004 there was a chance of them signing me instead of Spurs, but it isn't something I think about too often. I've been spoilt during my career.

I consider myself an official scout for not just WWE, but the Reality of Wrestling.

When I was coming through as a professional wrestler, as a young man in 2003 and 2004, there really wasn't much of a wrestling scene in the U.K. to take advantage of or make a living in, so I was forced to have to go to the U.S. and kinda make a living from it out there.

I turned pro as a wrestler a few days after my last football game.

I would love to play for the Bucs. But that being said, I think if you find the team that wants you, that's going to be the right team.

I went through ups and downs in this business and in life, and when I was released by WWE in 2014, I knew I had a wealth of knowledge and an opportunity.

If you're not in the WWE and bouncing around in the Indy shows, you're not with the best.

What I think ECW presented was a big opportunity for a lot of WWE superstars. Definitely me. It revitalized my entire career when I moved to ECW.

WWE has given me an out where, any days off that I have, they allow me to work on outside projects.

Wrestling is just a different beast. There is no off-season in WWE. It's week in and week out.

When I stopped playing football, I stopped my relationship with my agent. I always had one agent.

I never would have thought that in a million years that this would have happened, being in WWE and being in a Muppet film. But for some stroke of luck I guess they both did and I'm loving both of them.

My first time being inside the Performance Center was for the WWE Tough Enough tryouts, and although I knew hardly anything about sports-entertainment, I knew I wanted to be a part of this place.