Paul Heyman is leaning hard into his post-Wrestlemania heel turn.
The inimitable promoter joined “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday on the heels of the weekend-long WWE spectacle in which he turned on longtime friends CM Punk and Roman Reigns and took no prisoners in the aftermath.
“CM Punk does as much good to my reputation as Shannon Sharpe does to ESPN’s,” he said to McAfee’s chagrin as the show aired on the Worldwide Leader’s airwaves.
McAfee, who is also a color commentator for WWE, wasn’t the only one taken aback, as the the Las Vegas crowd reacted to the shot at the Football Hall of Famer and ESPN panelist, who was accused of sexual assault and battery in a $50 million civil lawsuit filed in Nevada on Sunday.
Paul Heyman’s post-Wrestlemania appearance on ‘The Pat McAfeee Show’ left the host playing defense. Pat McAfee Show/YouTube
“Don’t ‘Ooooh’ me,” Heyman retorted to the crowd. “I’m not the one getting sued.”
The 59-year-old wrestling personality then turned to McAfee himself.
“Do you care about the opinions of people who are irrelevant?,” he asked. “You don’t care about the opinions of most people who are very relevant in your life. You don’t care about the opinions of people who pay you. They sit there and they go, ‘Hey Mr. McAfee, don’t talk about Shannon Sharpe on the air today!’ And you go, ‘Pfft, I talk about anything I want. I’m Pat McAfee, watch me swing my schlong all over the place.”
McAfee, visibly uncomfortable at Heyman’s over-the-top showmanship on the live broadcast, was put on his back foot with Heyman saying McAfee had smoked weed the night before and told him, ‘Hey, you know Stephen A. Smith sucks, right?”
Heyman spared no one in the live interview. Pat McAfee Show/YouTube
The titular host denied that claim.
Heyman also had some words for fans behind him, singling out one in the front row.
“Who’s the smart ass?,” he asked from the stage. “You, the one that’s gonna get deported. Hey amigo, I may suck but it’s your mother that taught me how.
Shannon Sharpe attends SiriusXM At Super Bowl LVII on February 09, 2023. Getty Images for SiriusXM
“Bitch of an audience today.”
