It appears that WWE Raw will be undergoing changes beginning this Monday with a report stating that former ESPN host Adnan Virk is set to become its lead announcer.
Raj Giri of Wrestling INC reports that Virk is set to replace Tom Phillips as the lead announcer on Raw.
Giri also reports that Tom Phillips will not be part of tonight’s WrestleMania broadcast due to COVID-19 protocols.
Virk is a native of Toronto, Ontario, originally working for The Score (now Sportsnet 360) and joined ESPN in 2010. Virk served as an anchor on Baseball Tonight along with several additional hosting duties, including the Cinephile podcast he launched and continues to this day.
In 2019, Virk was released by the company with reports surfacing over information the network believed Virk had leaked. Shortly after his dismissal, Virk issued a statement and denied leaking proprietary information:
I believe that I did nothing wrong that would justify my termination and I categorically deny that I leaked any confidential or proprietary information. There is considerably more that I would like to say regarding my tenure with ESPN and the circumstances surrounding my termination. However, I believe for now that, for now, it is in my and the Company’s best interest to concentrate on attempting to resolve our differences, rather than engaging in a very public war of words.
Last week, it was announced that Virk would be joining Meadowlark Media, which is run by John Skipper and Dan Le Batard. Virk will begin working as a contributor for the outfit in July with his Cinephile podcast moving to their network.
WWE has yet to confirm Virk’s hiring or the changes to the Raw team. POST Wrestling has reached out to WWE and will update if they choose to respond to our request for confirmation.
