Renee Paquette Defends WWE Raw Announcer Adnan Virk

Former WWE Raw commentator Renee Paquette has come to the defence of the show’s current lead announcer Adnan Virk.

Virk made his debut on the Raw after WrestleMania and many fans have been vocally critical of him in the early stages of his tenure.

Speaking with Wrestling Inc about how she was also criticised during her time on commentary, Renee Paquette said:

“It’s humbling to say the least. It really messes with you because it’s not like I went in there being like, ‘I know what I’m doing’. I didn’t know what I was doing. They asked me to come in and commentate on Monday Night Raw, so, what am I gonna say? No? No, of course I’m going to go do my best and try to figure it out, and I will give credit to WWE big time here is that they let me stay in.

“Everything that I had done in WWE at that point, people have been so gracious to me, and the fans have been really really cool to me and accepting of me, so that’s been awesome. I stepped in there, and it’s like, ‘Actually, we hate you’. I’m like, ‘No, that’s not what I wanted’, but you gotta grow. You gotta try things, and it’s fine. It’s tough to be in a position like that, and it’s tough to feel like you don’t want to do a bad job.

“I don’t want to do a disservice to a story that is being told on television. Everyone’s putting in so much hard work. So everyone just wants to do a good job, and everyone’s just really mean to everyone on commentary. Give the guy a break. He’s figuring it out. It just sucks. There’s no way around it. Also, everyone just lives in that mind frame of, Oh, we just want JR. We just want Jerry The King Lawler’. People want what they’re familiar with. As much as we crave change and we’re looking for change, we also are freaked out by change.”

While it hasn’t been smooth sailing for Virk, it’s important to remember he’s brand new to the role and hadn’t even been trained before his first show.

WWE usually trains up announcers at the Performance Center, so Virk was really thrust in at the deep end and needs time to grow into the role, which he is already doing.

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• Adnan Virk
• Renee Paquette
• RAW
• Commentary

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