Pat McAfee makes big tease at Indianapolis WWE event, and other takeaways

For the first time in seven years, Indianapolis moved to the center of the professional wrestling universe as it hosted WWE Fastlane at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Saturday night.

The racing-themed premium live event (still more colloquially known as a pay-per-view) was broadcast live on Peacock, but a full house of Hoosiers got there early and stayed late to catch every moment.

A blistering opening match, the return of beloved superstar John Cena, a brutal final contest that nearly ended in my lap and a possibly prophetic statement from a certain former Colts punter were among the highlights.

Here are a few takeaways from the evening.

Pat McAfee was there, but didn't get his hands dirty

Pat McAfee is a beloved former Indianapolis Colt and an immensely popular broadcaster. But he can also wrestle. I've seen it. He's even pretty good at it.

With only a handful of matches planned for the evening and no clear mention of McAfee going into Saturday, I would have bet a sizeable amount of money that some bad guy would run his mouth about our city, and McAfee would close it for him.

This is why I'm not a betting man.

McAfee drew massive applause as he entered midway through the matches, dressed in a blue suit with a Colts-themed WWE championship belt. But he was only here to talk.

Luckily, he said all the right things.

"There was no chance in hell I was going to miss this show on this night in this glorious city," McAfee told the crowd.

He went on to hint that this evening may be an audition for a much larger event in the future before introducing Cena.

"I think Indianapolis, Indiana has deserved a Wrestlemania," he added.

While Indianapolis regularly hosts smaller WWE shows, the larger, monthly premium live events have grown scarce. Fastlane was the city's first since 2016.

It has been 31 years since Indy has hosted Wrestlemania, the biggest of the premium live events which now stretches over two days. We have an NFL stadium that McAfee knows well ready to host it.

Will this pressure WWE into giving us another shot? Was McAfee's statement, broadcast live throughout the world, cleared ahead of time because there may be some news down the line?

I guess we'll see.

Cena is still king, but ...

John Cena is both a 16-time WWE champion and a pretty entertaining actor. These days, the latter is his day job. But the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike allowed fans in Indianapolis to get a little taste of the former.

His power was clear before I even entered the arena. More than half of the WWE-themed T-shirts worn by folks in the security lines featured his face or taglines.

More: John Cena: Last WWE match 'is on the horizon;' end of SAG-AFTRA strike would pull him away

I've been watching him for 20 years, and I was glad to see him again. But his match — he teamed with the very talented LA Knight against the evil Bloodline of Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa — could have used a bit more action.

The bad guys beat Cena to a pulp. Eventually, business picked up as the good guys evened the odds. LA Knight made an amazing leap up to the top rope to slam the daylights out of Uso, which drew an audible gasp from the entire crowd.

However, I'd have preferred to see Cena give a little more back to the bad guys, given his exalted status.

What an opening match

How could the above have been better, you might ask? By taking a cue from the night's first match, which featured Uso's twin brother, Jey, and Cody Rhodes against Finn Bálor and Damian Priest.

It was constant action with the momentum swinging between each team. The wicked heels attempted to cheat, but Uso and Rhodes won out. There were big moves every few minutes. If you're a wrestling fan and missed the show, find this one on Peacock. It was the best match of the night.

I witnessed a (near) murder

Fastlane's main event featured world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura.

It was a no-disqualification match, meaning the combatants could beat each other senseless with whatever they could find all across the arena. This led to three interesting moments:

• The weapons in these matches are usually things one would logically find in an arena — tables, chairs, trash cans — and that would reasonably be stored under the ring. This is a suspension of reality agreement any wrestling fan is willing to make. But Nakamura pulled out a pair of nunchaku from under the ring. Really? Are those so the road crew can fight their way through a drug dealer's gang on a private island?

• The stage through which wrestlers entered the arena featured two racecars. Fastlane. Indianapolis. You get it. I was too far away to see if they were real. But as Rollins and Nakamura were fighting throughout the arena, the crowd started to chant "we want racecars." Oh, that would be fun, I thought. One of you slam the other guy on one of the cars. When the duo moved away from the cars, there was a justified groan.

• Eventually, Rollins and Nakamura climbed up to the area in which I was seated, a few rows above the floor. Rollins then suplexed Nakamura off the edge of railing onto what, from my angle, appeared to be the concrete floor. A murder, right? In fact, several tables were positioned below us. Rollins won the match, and, eventually, Nakamura limped away.

McAfee wasn't the only Indiana face in attendance

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton knows Gainbridge Fieldhouse well, but he played spectator on Saturday from the front row. He was not there as celebrity wallpaper, either, as he stood, cheered and waved his arms at appropriate times throughout the night.

He even participated in the post-show news conference.

Several members of Indiana University's football team were seated next to Haliburton. These included running back Declan McMahon, grandson of WWE founder Vince McMahon, who held a custom IU-themed title belt.

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Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter at IndyStar. Contact him at 317-552-9044 and rappleton@indystar.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RoryEHAppleton.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: John Cena, Pat McAfee appear at WWE Fastlane in Indianapolis