Tom Phillips had been part of the WWE Raw announce team since January 2020, most notably sharing the booth with Samoa Joe and Byron Saxton during the pandemic era.
Following WrestleMania 37, WWE announced that Adnan Virk would be taking over as the lead play-by-play announcer on Raw, sending Phillips to the bench.
Speaking on the Sports Media podcast with Richard Deitsch, Phillips commented on Virk replacing him.
"I was surprised. I had watched Adnan Virk for years so when I hear, 'Adnan Virk is coming in to be the announcer for Raw,' I was like, 'Woah, that's a shift.' At the same time, I was like, 'I have all the respect in the world for this guy's ability.' What the job requires, what people refer to as traffic, getting from graphics to B roll to an interview, I thought, 'He did SportsCenter, which is one-way traffic and college football halftime shows, he's probably got the skills to do this.' I was definitely surprised, but to hear it was Adnan Virk, I got it," he said.
Phillips also noted that he was surprised Virk lasted less than two months in the role.
When discussing Virk's time at the desk, Phillips said, "I've seen so many different people come and go at different levels and different spots. I won't speak to what he was going through because that's his experience and I can't speak to that, but it was fast. He has so many other things that he does in conventional sports where he's so talented and he'll do just fine."
Virk was replaced by Jimmy Smith this past Monday on Raw.
Phillips was released by WWE on May 27.
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