Is Pat McAfee leaving WWE? Real reason why he won't be on RAW

Pat McAfee will not be on RAW on Netflix this week and there was some speculation that he might leave WWE. However, this is not the case for the RAW commentator, who recently returned to the red brand after a few months away.

Pat McAfee will not show up on RAW on Netflix on Monday due to other commitments he has. More specifically, he will be in Atlanta, Georgia, and will join other ESPN analysts in commentary for the College Football Playoff National Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Ahead of Monday's show, WWE has already revealed McAfee's replacement, with Wade Barrett named as the one who will join Michael Cole on commentary.

The former WWE star will return to the red brand, after spending nearly four months as RAW commentator alongside Joe Tessitore. Tessitore and Barrett moved to SmackDown when the red brand moved to Netflix on January 6.

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Pat McAfee praises WWE legend The Rock

The Rock showed up on the RAW premiere on Netflix a couple of weeks ago as well as the NXT Premium Live Event, New Year's Evil, a day later, and set the stage for his coming appearances in WWE. The Final Boss is considered one of the top names in the business and aside from his success in Hollywood, he has taken an active role in WWE management, after joining TKO's Board of Directors.

For his part, Pat McAfee recently had high praise for The Rock, calling him 'The Final Boss' in WWE during an episode of his show, The Pat McAfee Show.

"He's the biggest star on planet Earth. He's the founder of Teremana and Zoa and Papatui. But he's the actual director of the board, The Final Boss here at the WWE," McAfee said. [H/T - WrestlingInc.]

The WWE legend started to get more involved with the company a year ago. Until then, he made a few sporadic appearances. However, he had an impressive run with WWE on The Road to WrestleMania 40, while he showed up on both nights of WrestleMania 40. His run brought a lot of excitement to wrestling fans and WWE Creative is hopeful he will be part of The Road to WrestleMania this year as well.