During a recent appearance on the “Sports Media with Richard Deitsch” podcast, former WWE announcer Tom Phillips commented on being surprised by Adnan Virk replacing him on RAW, Virk’s short tenure with WWE, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On being removed as RAW play-by-play announce in favor of Adnan Virk: “I can honestly say I was surprised. Adnan Virk was somebody that I had known – not to date him in any way – but he had a run on SportsCenter when I was in college and then just right out of college. So, I watched him for years. When I hear, ‘Hey Adnan Virk’s coming in to be the lead announcer for Monday Night Raw’, I was like, whoa, that is a shift. But at the same time, I was like, I have all the respect in the world for this guy’s ability, in terms of what the job of Raw and Smackdown requires, what everybody refers to commonly in play-by-play as ‘traffic’. Getting from graphics to B-roll to an interview, etc. I was like, well, this guy did SportsCenter, which is just one-way traffic. And then he did college football halftime shows. So, it was like, yeah, this guy’s probably got the skill set to do this. So I was definitely surprised. But at the same time to hear it was the name of somebody like Adnan Virk, I was like OK, I get it.”
On Virk’s short tenure with WWE: “I was [surprised], to be very honest. I’ve seen so many different people come and go at different levels of the announce team and different spots on the announce team. So, I won’t speak to necessarily in terms of what he was going through because that’s what his experience was. So, I can’t really speak to that. But it was fast. But that being said, he has so many other things that he does in conventional sportscasting, conventional sports, whatever you want to call it, where he is so talented. He’s gonna do just fine. I don’t need to say that, he knows that.”
On his future goals and the transition from WWE to sports broadcasting: “Hopeful, comfortable, optimistic…..I think there is still that stigma. I experienced it for nine years talking to people outside the business. The truth about sports entertainment is, if you’re not all-in and immersed 24/7, it ain’t gonna work. I can take a lot of pride in saying I was immersed for nine years. So, now I’m able to be an asset because of what WWE taught me. I’m excited to go out and prove that. I know college football intimately. Big E would attest that I am a college football or just football junkie. Whether it be my Eagles in the NFL, I’m the guy who watches the XFL, the CFL, the AAF, Arena Football at one point. That’s me. So, I feel very confident in my abilities to learn. But at the same time, like I have no delusions. I need to get in some place and learn. I need to start at the bottom and work my way up. And I have no issue with that. That’s something I want to do.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)