After years of having permanent announce partnerships, WWE now regularly makes modifications, and following WrestleMania 37, both Raw and SmackDown’s teams are being changed. Raw will be made up of former ESPN announcer Adnan Virk, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton. SmackDown’s team is yet to be confirmed, although Michael Cole is expected to remain. While there is the possibility Samoa Joe will move to SmackDown, the belief is Tom Phillips will no longer have a role.
Canadian sportscaster Virk is seen as a direct replacement for Phillips, who has been with WWE since 2012 and been the lead announcer on Raw, SmackDown, NXT, NXT UK, Main Event, 205 Live, and Superstars. As of writing, it isn’t known what WWE’s plans are for Phillips, and neither party has publicly commented on the situation.
Virk is likely coming in due to WWE President & Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan’s recommendation, who was previously his agent. Virk was with ESPN for nine years and worked on Baseball Tonight, SportsCenter, Outside the Lines, and ESPN College Football. However, back in 2019, he was fired and escorted from the building because he had shared confidential information about the network’s baseball coverage with a journalist. Since then, he has worked for the MLB Network, NHL Network, DAZN and has his own podcast.
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