WWE: Latest Report on Adnan Virk’s Potential Replacement on WWE Raw

Adnan Virk and WWE announced on Tuesday that, less than two months after it was announced he had signed a multi-year deal with the company, the promotion and the MLB Network anchor had decided to mutually part ways. Virk worked as the play-by-play commentator for seven episodes of Monday Night Raw and the WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view but explained in a statement that the grind was simply becoming too much for him.

“Thanks to @WWE for a wonderful opportunity. The weekly travel along with my other jobs was a grind for me and my family. Am grateful to everyone with the company especially @WWEGraves and @ByronSaxton for being such fantastic teammates.”

WWE has yet to announce who will take over for Virk beginning the with Memorial Day episode of Monday Night Raw. Tom Phillips previously worked at the position and is still with the company, though PWInsider noted former UFC and American Ninja Warrior announcer Jimmy Smith could also be in the running.

“However, we have been told that former UFC and American Ninja Warrior announcer Jimmy Smith, who joined the WWE announcing team at NXT Takeover: Stand and Deliver last month, has been putting in a lot of work to prepare for his future WWE broadcast assignments, so he could certainly be in consideration as well,” Mike Johnson reported. “We are told that if a determination has been made for this Monday, it’s being kept very close to the vest thus far.”

Update: Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is now reporting Smith has been chosen for the role. Neither Smith nor WWE have officially commented.

Virk’s first few weeks in the position were met with a lukewarm reception some fans, something he addressed in interviews in late April.

“One of the great pieces of advice Michael Cole said to me, ‘Listen, whatever you do, please don’t check social media.’ I nodded,” Virk told the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast. “He goes, ‘I’m serious about this because no one listens, and then they check it.’ And either way it’s not good. If they say you’re great, well, that doesn’t matter. If they say you’re awful, that also doesn’t matter. One man’s opinion doesn’t matter so don’t lose sight of that. What was funny is this. I get home, and I took Michael’s advice to heart. And I’m talking my wife. She’s goes, ‘How’d it go?’ I thought I did alright. I made some mistakes. There’s some stuff I’d like to get back, but Corey and Byron were great. I think I’ll get better. I thought this was good, and I’ll only get better by watching it. So I re-watched the whole show. I watched it start to finish. I haven’t yet for the second one, but I will just. I go, okay, that was better than I thought. It was worse than I thought, and I think whenever you make a mistake — you’d like to make zero mistakes.

“You want to bat 1,000, but if you make a mistake, don’t make the same mistake twice, just learn from it,” he added. “My wife starts saying, ‘Oh, this person tweeted this. No, I don’t want to know this. Why would you tell me this? I called my parents Jimmy. ‘How’d it go?’ Same thing, some good, some bad. ‘Yeah, your dad was checking Twitter,’ and I go, for god’s sakes. It’s amazing to me that when people are looking for feedback, social media, as you and I both know, it’s generally a place where people are spewing vitriol.”