It was confirmed on Monday that former ESPN host and current MLB sportscaster Adnan Virk would be taking on the position of lead commentator for WWE’s Raw brand. Virk called the action alongside Byron Saxton and Corey Graves.
Virk appeared on The Ryen Russillo Podcast and discussed the reaction to the announcement that he would be joining WWE’s broadcast team. Adnan shared that he was fascinated by the amount of wrestling fans that did not know who he was. He feels this venture will either go smoothly or viewers will want him to leave.
Yeah, I mean it’s definitely — to your point, you’re going in a different lane and it’s interesting, what I found fascinating was how necessarily wrestling fans don’t know who I am. Like I was laughing at how many — there’s definitely a cross section of, ‘Oh my God, I’m Ryen Russillo.’ ‘I know that guy, he’s great’ or, ‘I know that guy from NHL Network, he sucks,’ whatever it is. But there’s been a lot of, ‘Well who’s that guy? What?’ My understanding is that WWE Universe, they’re passionate to what they’re watching. They’re not focused on me and [Joey] Galloway and Jesse Palmer doing college football so, I think that — it can go one of two ways. Either it goes, ‘No, he’s a fresh, different voice. Didn’t know who he was, it’s different’ or, ‘Man, this guy sucks. I don’t know who he is. I hope he goes back to wherever he came from.’
There was a piece that The Athletic published that included an interview with Adnan Virk and he explained how his arrival to WWE happened. He further elaborated on that during his podcast appearance and said he auditioned in February and things were finalized in March. He was instructed to not respond to anyone concerning him joining the Raw commentary team until it was officially announced by WWE.
I auditioned early February, got the job. Obviously had to get consent from MLB. It was probably wrapped up around late March and then I flew down under the cover of darkness in my fedora and trench coat to WrestleMania Saturday and then I think some reports came out Saturday so, at that point some people were texting me going, ‘Wait, is this true?’ And I had been told, ‘Listen, you don’t respond to anybody. Until Monday at 10 AM hits, nothing. I don’t care who it is.’
It was first reported by Wrestling Inc. on 4/10 that Adnan Virk would be taking over commentary duties for Raw.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit The Ryen Russillo Podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
