Tom Phillips reacts to Adnan Virk leaving WWE after 43 days

Former WWE commentator Tom Phillips has admitted he was surprised that Adnan Virk only lasted 43 days as RAW’s lead announcer.

Virk, who has two decades’ experience in sports broadcasting, was confirmed as Phillips’ replacement on April 12. After a difficult six weeks in the job, WWE announced on May 25 that the 42-year-old had mutually agreed to part ways with the company.

Speaking on the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch, Phillips gave his reaction to Virk’s short spell at the announce desk.

“I was [surprised], to be very honest,” he said. “Because I’ve seen so many different people come and go at different levels of the announce team and different spots of 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 Phillips also believes Virk will do just fine in his future ventures because of the experience he has gained in conventional sportscasting.

WWE and Adnan Virk have mutually agreed to part ways. WWE thanks Adnan for his work. https://t.co/17ZEiUWXbr pic.twitter.com/J8TjRmIhY6

— WWE (@WWE) May 25, 2021

Tom Phillips added that he used to watch Adnan Virk several years ago on ESPN’s SportsCenter show. While his own WWE release took him by surprise, Phillips said he “got it” when he heard that Virk had been hired as his replacement.

Jimmy Smith is RAW’s new commentator after Tom Phillips and Adnan Virk

Jimmy Smith

While Tom Phillips stopped working as RAW’s lead announcer in April 2021, his departure from WWE only came to light last week.

WWE also announced last week that former UFC commentator Jimmy Smith had replaced Adnan Virk as the latest addition to the RAW announce team.

WWE today announced that @jimmysmithmma will debut as the play-by-play voice for #WWERaw starting this Monday, May 31 at 8/7c on @USA_Network.https://t.co/8mUWqEkv4X

— WWE (@WWE) May 26, 2021

Jimmy Smith’s commentary received largely positive feedback from WWE fans after this week’s RAW. According to Wrestle Votes, members of the RAW production team were “absolutely thrilled” with Smith’s debut.

Please credit the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.

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