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John Cena Sr. believes WWE did not give Adnan Virk the best chance to succeed in his role as the lead announcer of RAW.
Virk, who has two decades of experience in sports broadcasting, replaced Tom Phillips as RAW’s main commentator after WrestleMania 37. He lasted just 43 days in the position before mutually parting ways with WWE last month.
Speaking to Boston Wrestling MWF’s Dan Mirade, John Cena’s father questioned why Virk did not begin his WWE commentary career in NXT.
“If they really wanted him to succeed, they would have stuck him down in NXT,” John Cena Sr. said. “They would have had him work with some of the top men in the business, understand the professional wrestling business, and maybe six months or eight months from now put him on TV. But they just took this man and threw him in the pool and said, ‘Swim.’”
The man who Adnan Virk replaced, Tom Phillips, recently left WWE after nine years with the company. He said on the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch that he was surprised to see Virk leave WWE after such a short amount of time.
Jimmy Smith replaced Adnan Virk as WWE RAW’s lead announcer
Former UFC announcer Jimmy Smith joined WWE as RAW’s lead commentator following Adnan Virk’s departure.
Smith’s work has received positive reviews since he took over from Virk three weeks ago. According to Wrestle Votes, WWE’s production team were “absolutely thrilled” with his debut on the May 31 episode of RAW.
The RAW commentary team now consists of Jimmy Smith, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves. Michael Cole works as the lead announcer on SmackDown, with Pat McAfee providing color commentary.
Please credit Boston Wrestling MWF and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
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