WWE Rumors: Backstage update on Tom Phillips' future following WWE Draft

New Commentary teams after 2019 WWE Draft

The 2019 WWE draft is scheduled to take place on October 11th and goes through into October 14th episode of Monday Night RAW and as part of this draft, the commentary teams are going to be the subject of several changes of their own.

It was revealed in the evening of 26 September that NXT's commentary team of Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix, and Nigel McGuiness would remain untouched, whilst Monday Night RAW's team would consist of 205 Live's Vic Joseph on play-by-play, with WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler and Dio Maddin as analysts.

SmackDown Live would then be strengthened following their move over to FOX and now include Michael Cole on play-by-play, Corey Graves as an analyst whilst Renee Young was listed as a special contributor. This news meant that both Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton had lost their jobs behind the commentary desk on SmackDown Live.

Tom Phillips update

According to a tweet by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com, Phillips career doesn't look to be in any kind of trouble since he will now be working as a "producer" for the company, which is a somewhat vague job role.

I've heard that as of right now Tom Phillips will be doing some "producing." That term is very broad and vague in WWE
— Sean Ross Sapp, Fightful.com TALL OF FAMER (@SeanRossSapp) September 26, 2019

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This means that Phillips can take some time off from WWE TV and could be working with up and coming talents in NXT or even working backstage and helping to produce SmackDown and RAW instead. It allows the commentator to get some much needed backstage experience and can lead to bigger opportunities.

Byron Saxton's WWE status still remains unknown but will become clear as the company gets ready for one of the biggest switches in their history.