WWE: More Details on Why Adnan Virk Left

WWE and Monday Night Raw commentator Adnan Virk announced on Tuesday that, despite him signing a [...]

By Connor Casey

WWE and Monday Night Raw commentator Adnan Virk announced on Tuesday that, despite him signing a multi-year deal last month, the MLB Network anchor would be leaving the company immediately as the two parties agreed to "mutually part ways." Virk only worked seven episodes of Raw along with the WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view, and while his performance was starting to improve fans were continuously criticizing him online. At one point Sheamus even mentioned Virk in a promo, claiming the veteran anchor was in over his head.

Virk took to Twitter shortly after the news broke, writing, "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."

Fightful Select released a new report on the situation on Wednesday, stating that WWE officials had made up their minds on dropping Virk before this week's episode of Raw aired.

"[Both sides] "were very aware that the situation wasn't working out, and it appeared they knew it early on."

Virk talked about how his early performance was being received while on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast late last month.

"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 said. "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."

WWE confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that former UFC and Bellator commentator Jimmy Smith would be taking over for Virk beginning with next week's Raw. Smith took to Twitter to respond to the news.

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