Tom Phillips Opens Up About Competition Between WWE Announcers

Following his WWE release, Tom Phillips has opened up about the relationships and competitive natures of WWE announcers.

Before being replaced by Adnan Virk shortly after WrestleMania 37, Phillips was the lead play-by-play commentator on Raw. According to Phillips, competition between WWE commentators was healthy.

Speaking on the Sports Media podcast with Richard Deitsch, Phillips noted that he often felt he had to up his game when watching more experienced announcers.

Stating that he always wanted to improve, Phillips said:

“It depends on what your relationships are like. There were times where I felt competition with other play-by-play announcers over the years. There were times when I felt competition with people who weren’t at my position because I could see how good they were. I thought, ‘I have to up my game because if they’re doing X and I’m doing Y, it’s not elevating the product and I have to be at that level.’

“I can honestly say, when I was there, the comrade among the announce team was fantastic. It always felt like you were in the foxhole with someone who had your back and that was the entire crew and production team. The competition, I found to be healthy. I wanted to be as good as the person sitting next to me. I’m trying to get better every week.”

Phillips was released from WWE last week, after almost a decade with the company. Jimmy Smith now announces for Raw, with Adnan Virk also released last month.

Quote via Fightful.

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