Tom Hannifan Credits Deonna Purrazzo & Steve Maclin For Opening Door For Him To Join TNA/IMPACT

Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo introduced Tom Hannifan to the powers that be.

Purrazzo and Maclin introduced the two parties.

Dating back to 2022, Tom Hannifan has been the play-by-play commentator for TNA/IMPACT Wrestling. He opened up about how he got his start with the company when he guest appeared on B4theBell.

He shared that Deonna Purrazzo and Steve Maclin introduced him to the powers that be and that led to Hannifan joining the company.

“So Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo are two very close friends of mine. Steve Maclin and I have known each other since the NXT days and he was already in IMPACT as Deonna was at the time and I think it was like December of that year and they were like, ‘Hey, I think they’re gonna make a change. It sounds like they’re moving on from Striker and they might need a new play-by-play guy. Do you want us to introduce you?’ So, thankfully, they opened the door. I had a great conversation with Josh Mathews who I worked with once upon a time. He did my audition in WWE. So just full circle and then I speak to Scott D’Amore shortly thereafter and it just clicked and it just clicked very quickly…”

As the conversation went on, Hannifan was asked if he’s interested in getting involved in television storylines. He said there’s been instances that have come up in TNA, but it does not pan out because he’s the sole play-by-play commentator.

He added that if something were to happen to him in storyline, he’d have to be off television selling it.

“I mean, it’s come up in a couple of different instances in TNA but it’s just never really worked out or made sense I guess. Part of it is I’m the only play-by-play guy so if you take me out, then it’s like, okay, what do we do now with the show? Because then it’s just (Matt) Rehwoldt going Joey Styles for what? However many weeks I gotta sell it.”

In this same interview, Hannifan compared the current vibe of TNA to the 2014-2016 era of NXT. To read his comments, head over to this link.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit B4theBell with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.