Paul Heyman takes cheap shot at Shannon Sharpe on Pat McAfee’s show amid ongoing s*xual assault lawsuit

If there’s one man in the sports industry to whom one should never reveal their darkest secrets, it’s ‘The Wise Man’ Paul Heyman. And Pat McAfee walked right into the trap by asking the WWE Hall of Famer to refrain from talking about Shannon Sharpe’s recent legal issues.

Two days after betraying CM Punk at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, Heyman appeared on the Pat McAfee Show for an interview. McAfee planned to make a highlight/discussion episode with Heyman.

The night appeared to have started off on the right foot until Heyman took over the proceedings. The 59-year-old completely denied betraying Punk and Roman Reigns by pinning the blame on the Original Tribal Chief for the turn of events. From his point of view, he made a judgment call to side with Seth Rollins.

Heyman wasn’t done. Not even in the slightest. He had another plan up his black tuxedo sleeves.

Heyman rarely loses control over his emotions, but he sounded emotional before discussing his friendship with CM Punk. However, the nearly teary eyes and the muffled voice were a well-thought-out distraction to make Punk look like the bad guy.

See… CM Punk does as much good to my reputation as Shannon Sharpe does to ESPN.

Paul Heyman dropped a bomb for which Pat McAfee wasn’t prepared

McAfee should have seen it coming. He knows better than most about how Heyman loves to switch and twist narratives to benefit himself. Heyman knew what he was doing, and it was out of the former NFL punter’s hands.

Don’t ooohh! Me. I am not the one getting sued.

Heyman turned to the agitated audience behind the podium and said

𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: Paul Heyman is definitely getting banned from ESPN after this rant 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/XHSQtoeBA4

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 21, 2025

Is Paul Heyman right about Shannon Sharpe getting sued?

The answer is simple. In the early hours of Monday, a chilling report was published against Sharpe. A woman named Gabriella Zuniga accused the 2x Super Bowl winner of s*xually assaulting her multiple times during what she describes as a “rocky consensual relationship.”

The accusation doesn’t end there. Zuniga added that Sharpe used to record their encounters without consent and shared them around. She further piled on the complaints, which included enduring coercion, violence, and threats, including r*pe and emotional manipulation on multiple occasions, spanning between 2023 and 2025.

It’s a small world, and in the age of social media, even old-timers like Heyman can find dirt on anyone. He certainly did his football homework, and McAfee seemed ready to pack his bags and fly off to Indianapolis. But the night wasn’t over.

It’s actually quite astonishing to think ESPN allowed it to go on, considering their no ‘swear word’ policy. Heyman was off his rocker and didn’t care about which channel or platform he was on. He spewed one swear word after another like he was back in the ring exchanging low blows.

To give Heyman credit, the show was still under McAfee’s control until it wasn’t. The balance of power had shifted, and it was McAfee’s turn to face the music.

You don’t care about the opinion of most people who are very relevant in your life. You don’t even care about the opinions of the people who pay you. They say, ‘Hey! Mr. McAfee, don’t talk about Shannon Sharpe on air today… I am gonna talk about anything I want. I am Pat McAfee. Watch me swing my sling all over the place.

Paul Heyman ranted

Heyman and the scriptwriter deserve an Emmy just for this episode. As for Sharpe—he is in some serious trouble. Zuniga, with the help of her superstar attorney Tony Buzbee, filed a lawsuit against the former Denver Broncos tight end on April 21.

Hilariously, Antonio Brown could not believe it. The very Antonio Brown who has been in Sharpe’s shoes before, tweeted:

This nigga ain’t slick… 🌈🦖 #CTESPN https://t.co/Vv5ZzPbURp

— AB (@AB84) April 21, 2025

Shannon Sharpe counters

People and fans of his podcasts were waiting for a reply, and Sharpe complied. The 56-year-old threw the ball back at Zuniga and Buzbee’s court with counter-accusations. Sharpe’s legal team alleged that Zuniga secretly recorded a video of one of their consensual s*xual encounters.

The edited tape that Ms. [Gabriella] Zuniga secretly taped and showed to Mr. [Shannon] Sharpe during her blackmail attempt tries to falsely portray, as a result of this editing and out of context from prior text messages, that the s*xual activity was not consensual. But Mr. Sharpe now believes her secret taping was all part of her planned setup as part of her blackmail scheme, as distorted by her edited tape, a copy of which she refused to make available to Mr. Sharpe or his counsel.

Shannon Sharpe’s legal team’s wrote

The lawsuit comes just around the time when Sharpe is close to signing a monumental contract. The details of the contract are still hidden from public knowledge.

Related: 3 reasons why the 2025 NFL season will be ‘make or break’ for Joe Burrow