Tom Phillips Surprised Adnan Virk Replaced Him On WWE RAW

WWE continues to release more and more employees from the company, which began last month after they fired 10 WWE Superstars including Samoa Joe and Mickie James. After that they release several NXT Superstars and employees.

Adnan Virk was also recently released from his role of Monday Night RAW commentator and then Tom Phillips was released as well. WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley was certainly shocked at his firing. Tom Phillips’ release was not part of the recent mass cuts. Now it seems Phillips has finally commented on his release from WWE.

While speaking to the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch, Tom Phillips talked about his WWE release, admitting that he was surprised by it. However, when Phillips came to know that he was going to be replaced by Adnan Virk, he could understand the decision to replace him.

“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 [ESPN show] SportsCenter when I was in college and then just right out of college, so I watched him for years. So when I hear, ‘Hey, Adnan Virk’s coming in to be lead announcer for Monday Night RAW,’ I was like, ‘Woah, that is a shift.”

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“At the same time, I was like, ‘Man, I have all the respect in the world for this guy’s [Adnan Virk’s] ability. In terms of what the job for RAW and SmackDown requires, what everybody refers to commonly in play-by-play as traffic, getting from graphics to B-roll to an interview, etcetera, I was like, ‘Well, this guy did SportsCenter,’ which is just one-way traffic, and then he did college football half-time shows, so it’s like, ‘Yeah, this guy’s probably got the skill set to do this.’

“So I was definitely surprised [to be released] but, at the same time, to hear the name of somebody like Adnan Virk, I was like, ‘Okay, I get it.’”

Adnan Virk was eventually released by former MMA commentator Jimmy Smith, whose debut on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW was met with positive reception. We will have to see what is next in store for Tom Phillips.