What if Pat McAfee had defeated Gunther? WWE explored the idea, at least for a moment.
At WWE Backlash 2025, Gunther unloaded a serious beating that left WWE commentator Pat McAfee in rough shape. The injuries included a burning chest, a popped eye vessel, and being unable to overcome “The Ring General’s” sleeper hold.
As revealed on WWE Unreal, though, at least one WWE creative team member was in support of McAfee defeating Gunther instead. According to WWE Executive Director Bruce Prichard, Gunther quickly conquering McAfee at Backlash was “predictable,” so the opposite outcome might have been worth exploring.
In response, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque noted that in the event that McAfee upset Gunther, then Gunther would have to go “on a tear” afterward in order to recover.
Another WWE Executive argued that McAfee winning would do more harm
On the opposite end, WWE VP of Creative Writing Jonathan Baeckstrom argued that Gunther losing to McAfee would be counterintuitive. This point was highlighted in that the former World Heavyweight Champion had just proclaimed that he was mentally locked in again.
“James Bond wins at the end of every James Bond movie because that’s what you pay to see. It’s the right ending for the story. Gunther just said, ‘I’m more focused than ever,’ and now he’s going to lose to our color commentator?” Baeckstrom questioned. “And then he’s going to have to go up to the ring the next week, Pat’s going to be sitting ten feet to his left. And it’s going to be like, ‘Yeah, I got my ass whipped, but I beat him.'”
Ultimately, Gunther bested McAfee at WWE Backlash, with McAfee then returning to his usual commentating duties in the weeks after.
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