Tom Phillips discusses the time Stephanie McMahon slapped him
Former WWE commentator Tom Phillips says it was “so much fun” to join the list of people Stephanie McMahon has slapped on WWE television.
The December 21, 2015 episode of RAW ended with Dean Ambrose defeating Sheamus in a Steel Cage match. Stephanie McMahon’s villainous WWE character did not want Ambrose to win, so she took her frustration out on Phillips backstage after the match.
Speaking on the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch, Phillips was asked if he was ever involved in any physical altercations in WWE. The recently released announcer’s moment with Stephanie McMahon immediately sprung to mind.
“I never took a conventional bump in the ring but there was one,” Phillips recalled. “I think it was before Christmas in 2015, I think it was the Slammys, which was also coinciding with RAW, and Stephanie McMahon just slapped me, for lack of a better term. But yeah, knew about it and everything. It was so much fun.
“It seems weird but Corey Graves [Phillips’ fellow commentator] standing right off camera at the time and just staring at me like a big brother being like, ‘Yeah, this is gonna be fun.’ It’s a rite of passage. It was great.”
Stephanie McMahon and Tom Phillips’ segment can be seen at the 23-second mark in the tweet above.
WWE.com reported after the segment that Phillips was unable to attend WWE’s next show, SuperSmackDown LIVE, due to the injuries he suffered. The website also shared a picture of Phillips’ injury (pictured on the right at the top of this article).
Tom Phillips on Stephanie McMahon as a person
As WWE’s compilation tweet above shows, Tom Phillips is not the first person who Stephanie McMahon has slapped as part of a storyline.
Phillips went on to confirm that McMahon made legitimate contact with the repeated slaps. He also clarified that WWE's Chief Brand Officer is a “wonderful” person in real life.
“That was full contact,” he added. “Stephanie is a wonderful human being. I have had nothing but great interactions with her, but if you ask anybody that’s taken the Stephanie McMahon slap, she means it. And that’s a good thing, because it’s live, it better not look improvised.”
In the same interview, Tom Phillips admitted he was surprised to receive his release from WWE after nine years with the company. He also gave his opinion on Adnan Virk lasting just 43 days as his replacement.
Please credit the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from his article.
Dear reader, could you take a quick 30-second survey to help us provide you with better content on SK Wrestling? Here's the link for it.