Reason why WWE commentators do not call John Cena and Roman Reigns by their first names

Tom Hannifan, known in WWE as Tom Phillips, says commentators are advised not to refer to superstars by their first names.

Hannifan recently joined IMPACT Wrestling after working for Vince McMahon’s company in various broadcasting positions between 2012 and 2021. WWE’s Vice President of Announcing, Michael Cole, oversaw his progress throughout those nine years.

On Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, Hannifan was asked if commentators are instructed to call John Cena, Roman Reigns, and others by their full names. He clarified that while Cole has not implemented that rule, he does teach announcers to say surnames instead of first names:

“No, I never experienced that [using full names for superstars]. One thing that I was taught by Michael Cole and a number of tenured announcers was just don’t refer to guys by just their first name. If it was any form of combat sports, you wouldn’t say ‘Jorge hit him!’ It sounds too friendly and too casual,” said Hannifan.

Hannifan commentated on every major show during his WWE career, including RAW and SmackDown. In 2017, he became only the fifth person to work as the lead announcer at WrestleMania.

Tom Hannifan learned a lot from Michael Cole in WWE

I was just getting warmed up https://t.co/b02k358ebZ

Michael Cole has worked as a wrestling commentator and interviewer since 1997. He is also responsible for assembling the broadcast teams on RAW, SmackDown, and several other shows.

Asked to disclose the biggest thing he learned from Cole, Hannifan gave his former boss credit for remaining patient with him:

“While I did not have a ton of patience, he was very patient with me. It was just to be patient, keep working and not give up on circumstance. I was moved around shows on the carousel, and I was so freaking young. For him to be patient with me, that was the biggest thing.”

Hannifan recently appeared on Renee Paquette’s The Sessions podcast. The 32-year-old said he always had a professional relationship with Vince McMahon and simply did what the WWE Chairman asked of him.