Pat McAfee gets brutalized at WWE Backlash: ‘My chest is burning’

Pat McAfee took quite the beating on Saturday night.

The divisive sports media enigma has already shown an ability to excel in a WWE ring, but his return to action at Backlash 2025, weeks after WrestleMania 41, left the “Raw” commentator licking his wounds.

McAfee, 38, took a bruising defeat at the hands of former WWE World Heavyweight champion Gunther in St. Louis.

The “Ring General” is known for his punishing in-ring style and feuded with the former Colts punter leading up to the WWE’s first major show following ‘Mania.

Said punishing style is typically highlighted by Gunther’s legitimately hard chops, in which he lays it in on the chest of his opponents, which McAfee felt during their match — and after.

“My chest… is ahhh… burning,” McAfee wrote on X along with a photo of his bright red chest.

The match saw McAfee endure a relentless assault, culminating in Gunther’s signature sleeper hold that rendered him unconscious.

The encounter lasted approximately 14 minutes, which is lengthy in WWE circles, even for a Premium Live Event.

Comparatively, this stands as McAfee’s second-longest singles match in WWE, just shy of his 16-minute debut against Adam Cole in 2020 while in NXT.

Throughout the match, Gunther dominated with his signature chops, leaving McAfee’s chest visibly battered, and overall, he dominated the WWE color commentator en route to a decisive victory.

McAfee is expected to return to his commentary duties on WWE programming, as well as various other media ventures, following his loss to Gunther.

In the storyline, McAfee asked for the match after Gunther attacked him and play-by-play man Michael Cole on Raw.