Adnan Virk Reflects On His First 2 Weeks As A WWE Commentator
"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."
Apr 26, 2021
Following WrestleMania 37, Adnan Virk replaced Tom Phillips as the play-by-play commentator on Monday Night Raw. The former ESPN sportscaster is joined at the commentary table by Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.
Ahead of the first broadcast, Virk told the audience at home that he would be a little rusty and his proclamation has ultimately come true. Virk has repeatedly used the same phrases and utterances when calling the play-by-play and he has called some moves incorrectly, such as The Viking Raiders' finisher.
Virk was a recent guest on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast to talk about his new role. During the conversation, Virk noted that he thinks he'll get better as the weeks go on and he revealed Michael Cole advised him not to check social media.
"One of the great pieces of advice Michael Cole said to me, 'Listen, whatever you do, please don't check social media.' I nodded. He goes, 'I'm serious about this because no one listens, and then they check it.' And either way Jimmy, 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," Virk said.
"What was funny is this. I get home, and I took Michael's advice to heart. And I'm talking to my wife. She 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," the Raw commentator continued.
"You want to bat 1,000, but if you make a mistake, don't make the same mistake twice, just learn from it. 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."
H/T to Wrestling Inc.
