Bruce Prichard wanted Pat McAfee to defeat Gunther at WWE Backlash 2025
During season two of WWE: Unreal, it was revealed that WWE Executive Director Bruce Prichard wanted Pat McAfee to defeat Gunther at WWE Backlash 2025. However, the idea was shot down by WWE VP Creative Writing Jonathan Baeckstrom.
Here was the exchange…
Triple H: “The question becomes, do you make that match here?”
Prichard: “It’s predictable to go out and just have the match and have Gunther beat him and be done with it.”
Triple H: “If we go down that road of McAfee catches the quick win, Gunther’s got to be on a tear after that.”
Baeckstrom: “I don’t know why Pat McAfee is beating Gunther. Pat wrestling at WrestleMania or SummerSlam? James Bond wins at the end of every James Bond movie because that’s what you pay to see. It’s the right ending for the story. Guntler just said, ‘I’m more focused than ever,’ and now he’s going to lose to our color commentator. And then he’s going to have to go up to the ring the next week, and Pat’s going to be sitting 10 feet to his left, and it’s going to be like, ‘Yeah, I got my ass beat, but I beat him.'”
Bruce Prichard wanted Pat McAfee to beat Gunther at Backlash last year because the other outcome was “predictable.”
Until another writer stepped in and shut it down 😭
— EliteRockerz 𝕏 (@EliteClubS0B) January 20, 2026