Tom Hannifan comments on his relationship with Vince McMahon
Tom Hannifan (f.k.a. Tom Phillips) says he maintained a professional relationship with Vince McMahon throughout his nine years in WWE.
Hannifan worked for WWE as a commentator and interviewer between 2012 and 2021. During that time, he became the youngest commentator in SmackDown history and only the fifth person to work as a lead announcer at WrestleMania.
The 32-year-old often worked alongside Renee Paquette (f.k.a. Renee Young) both on-screen and off-screen in WWE. Speaking on her Oral Sessions podcast, Hannifan opened up about his interactions with WWE’s Chairman:
“Very professional. I know a lot of people wanted to make sure that they were really close friends with him or something like that. I just always treated everything like, ‘Okay, you tell me what you want me to do and I’ll go do it. Period.’ And I just left it at that, so I always thought it was very professional and we understood each other.”
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After leaving WWE in April 2021, Hannifan was replaced as RAW’s lead announcer by Adnan Virk. Jimmy Smith has since replaced Virk, who only lasted six weeks in the role.
Tom Hannifan did not have any issues with Vince McMahon
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Several WWE commentators have revealed over the years that Vince McMahon repeatedly gave them certain words and phrases to say while they were on-air.
Although many people disliked McMahon’s approach, Hannifan had no problem carrying out instructions from his boss:
“If he fed me something, he fed me something, but I just tried to keep it simple that way. My dad was a marine, so when I grew up he always taught me the value of, ‘Go to work, do your job, and do whatever they ask you to do.’ So I took that personally.”
Hannifan recently became IMPACT Wrestling’s new play-by-play announcer, replacing Matt Striker. He made his debut at IMPACT’s Hard To Kill event on Saturday.
Please credit Oral Sessions and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.