Pat McAfee, Wade Barrett troll NFL officials at WWE Royal Rumble

Pat McAfee and Wade Barrett had fun on the microphone during last night’s WWE Royal Rumble as they took aim at the NFL’s officiating of Kansas City Chiefs games.

Barrett was in top form, referencing a former Premier League soccer player, calling two wrestlers “a pair of meat planets” and, during the night's tag-team title match, taking a pot-shot at NFL officialdom.

After a questionable call during the match between DIY and the Motor City Machine Guns, McAfee bemoaned the refereeing of the match, saying, “Stuff like that can’t happen with the official.”

After letting a near-fall play out in the ring, Barrett followed up by saying, “Well, I’ve not seen officiating this bad since the last Kansas City Chiefs game...”

Former Colts punter McAfee replied, “I love the greatness of the Chiefs.

“But even some of those calls, I go, ‘What’s going on?’”

NFL officials are catching some serious strays from Wade Barrett at the Royal Rumble.

"I've not seen officiating this bad since the last Kansas City Chiefs game." pic.twitter.com/KEcR35h8jA
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 2, 2025

Barrett and McAfee's jab at the NFL's officials was a clear reference to the AFC Championship game, where the Chiefs were the beneficiaries of a questionable call in their win over the Buffalo Bills.

A fourth-down run by Josh Allen appeared to see the ball cross the line to gain, only for the officials to spot the ball short of the first-down marker. But, despite the overhead replay appearing to show that Allen had done enough, it wasn't considered conclusive enough to overturn the on-field call, and the ball was turned over to the Chiefs on downs, as the momentum shifted firmly in favor of the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.

It wasn't the only jab at NFL officials, as earlier in the night, Michael Cole took a little shot of his own. After Chelsea Green attempted to take a time-out during the women’s Rumble, McAfree commented, “She was yelling for the ref to call time-out. She wanted a 30-second (break).”

Cole responded dryly, “This isn’t the NFL, and our refs are good.”

Barrett was on top form on commentary as he joined play-by-play man Michael Cole and McAfee at ringside for the event as he delivered a steady stream of one-liners throughout the night.

“Stop reading the dirtsheets, Michael Cole!” he bellowed after Alexa Bliss defied the wrestling news sites’ reports that she wouldn’t be involved by entering the women’s Rumble at number made her surprise return, contrary to reports from some prominent wrestling news sites, who had ruled out a Rumble comeback for Bliss in the lead-up to the event.

BLISS is BACK! 😲#RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/ICEdNpcJH4
— WWE (@WWE) February 1, 2025

Even Premier League fans got a niche reference as Barrett recalled NXT star Jaida Parker’s soccer background, saying she was ”a soccer standout during her days in college, and many have said the best holding midfielder since N’Golo Kante…” a shoutout to the French midfielder who helped Leicester City to their improbable 5,000-1 Premier League title back in 2015-16.

Lo de Wade Barrett mencionando a N'Golo Kanté porque Jaida Parker jugaba de pivote defensivo cuando jugaba a fútbol xd #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/jXFZaLu6c1
— LuigiWrestling (@LuigiWrestling) February 1, 2025

And Barrett was almost beside himself when Braun Strowman entered the Rumble at number 22 and immediately faced off with rival Jacob Fatu in a clash of two of the most intimidating figures on the WWE roster. He exclaimed, “We’ve got a couple of big old meat planets about to collide in the Royal Rumble!”

The Royal Rumble delivered an action-packed night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as Charlotte Flair and Jey Uso won their respective Royal Rumble matchups to punch their tickets to WrestleMania in Las Vegas later this year.