Jerry “The King” Lawler thinks the backlash against Pat McAfee getting involved at WrestleMania isn’t anything new. While appearing on the Notsam Wrestling podcast during WrestleMania weekend, Lawler compared the fan reaction to what Andy Kaufman dealt with decades ago.
The topic came up when McAfee’s involvement in WrestleMania was discussed and how many fans were upset about it. The host pointed out that fans have been strongly against McAfee being part of the action, saying the reaction has been loud and negative.
“I was thinking… I don’t know if you’ve been following at all the Pat McAfee getting involved in WrestleMania this year, but fans are furious about it. I mean, they can’t stand him. They can’t stand that he’s gotten involved in this match. They absolutely hate it.”
The comparison quickly shifted to Andy Kaufman, with the host explaining that McAfee’s situation feels similar to when Kaufman entered wrestling as an outsider and drew heavy reactions from fans.
“And the more I thought about it, the more I was like, man, this isn’t that dissimilar to Andy Kaufman coming in… and how he really — and Pat is like the biggest wrestling fan in the world — but in a moment has convinced everybody he’s an outsider. He doesn’t belong… and Andy Kaufman was kind of able to do that exact same thing.”
Lawler agreed with the comparison and explained that Kaufman had a unique situation that helped him generate that kind of heat with wrestling fans.
“Andy was… he was in a unique situation. He had wrestled women, right, a lot. And I didn’t even realize that.”
Lawler then explained how Kaufman first pitched his wrestling idea to Vince McMahon Sr., hoping to wrestle women in front of wrestling crowds. However, McMahon Sr. turned the idea down because he didn’t want to mix Hollywood personalities with wrestling at the time.
“The first thing that happened to me was Andy — he lived in Long Island — and he was at a WWE show up there and he got to go backstage and talk to Vince McMahon Sr. and told him, ‘Here’s my idea… I would like to come and wrestle.’ But his idea was he just wanted to wrestle women out of the audience in front of a wrestling crowd.”
Lawler’s comments show that strong reactions to celebrity involvement in wrestling have happened before, and sometimes that kind of heat is exactly what makes an angle work. With McAfee continuing to appear on WWE programming, reactions from fans could keep building as the storyline moves forward.
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Do you think Pat Mc Afee is getting the same kind of reaction Andy Kaufman once did? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.