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Michael Cole Gets Involved As Gunther Takes Out Pat McAfee

By Lyle Kilbane • Published May 11, 2025 09:00 EDT
Gunther

Michael Cole couldn’t sit and watch as Pat McAfee had the unenviable task of facing Gunther at WWE Backlash.

At WrestleMania 41, Gunther put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Jey Uso in the opening contest of the weekend. Uso survived the worst of The Ring General’s offence and even used it against him as Jey Uso tapped out Gunther with a sleeper hold to win the World Heavyweight Title for the first time in his career.

On Raw in Las Vegas, the fans chanted “you tapped out” at Gunther, which only added to his already raging anger after losing his title. Gunther confronted Michael Cole about the situation, and Cole replied that he wasn’t the one who had tapped out. The former champion locked Cole into a chokehold before Pat McAfee broke it up. As officials ran out to stop the situation from escalating, Gunther locked McAfee in a chokehold and choked him out.

That led to the unlikely match of Gunther vs. Pat McAfee being made for Backlash. Some fans expected some sort of interference on McAfee’s behalf, but few might have thought it would come from Michael Cole.

Gunther Puts Pat McAfee To Sleep

At Backlash, Gunther dominated the match as expected, while Michael Cole on commentary pleaded with the former World Heavyweight Champion to just finish off the match several times, but instead he prolonged the agony.

Cole eventually saw enough and got up from his position to get involved, even going as far as to hold Gunther’s foot down while McAfee covered him but that still only yielded a two-count. Gunther got his hands on Cole but McAfee saved his broadcast partner from a powerbomb. In the end, Gunther locked his rear naked choke on McAfee and put the Raw announcer to sleep.