WWE announcer Michael Cole made good on his bet with Pat McAfee and donned a Pacers jersey during “Monday Night Raw” that was broadcasting live from Tulsa, Okla.
The pair made a bet two weeks earlier that Cole would wear a Pacers jersey during a broadcast if Indiana defeated the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Pacers did indeed knock out the Knicks from the postseason in six games, completing the series over the weekend in a 125-108 win to advance to the NBA Finals to face the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Cole was forced to reveal the jersey underneath his dress shirt near the start of Monday’s broadcast, which did not sit well with the Oklahoma crowd and delighted McAfee, who then began taunting the fans.
“The Pacers are actually going to be taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals,” McAfee said. “And these people would like to see you pay your debt, sir. He’s been working out. He’s been running miles and miles and miles. Michael Cole, yeah buddy!”
McAfee then started to point out the buff arms of the longtime WWE broadcaster before noting that Cole was sporting a jersey of “Pacers legend” T.J. McConnell.
“Who’s going to come into Oklahoma and do what he did to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals,” McAfee exclaimed to the crowd, who quickly stared booing.
McAfee is an unabashed Pacers fan and has been a fixture at games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to support Indiana.
He made waves when he called out the “bigwigs from the big city” during an in-game stoppage in reference to the celebrity contingent of Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller and Spike Lee who made the trip to Indiana for the Pacers’ Game 4 win over the Knicks.
The NBA Finals begin Thursday in Oklahoma City.