Adnan Virk, WWE Agree to Part Ways; Took over as Raw Commentator After WrestleMania

After less than two months on the job, Adnan Virk is out as play-by-play announcer on WWE's Monday Night Raw.

WWE announced Tuesday that Virk and the company had mutually agreed to part ways.

Virk replaced Tom Phillips as the voice of Raw on April 12 and served as the Raw play-by-play announcer for seven episodes in addition to working the WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view. Virk's final episode was Monday's Raw.

In response to the announcement, Virk cited the extensive travel and other commitments as the reasons for his departure:

Virk was part of a significant shake-up of the Raw and SmackDown announce teams following WrestleMania 37.

Corey Graves moved from Raw to SmackDown to join Byron Saxton, Samoa Joe was released from his contract and Virk replaced Phillips. Also, on SmackDown, former NFL All-Pro punter Pat McAfee took the spot vacated by Graves alongside Michael Cole.

Virk arrived at WWE with some experience as a play-by-play announcer in baseball, but there tends to be a steep learning curve when it comes to pro wrestling announcing, especially in WWE because of how particular WWE Chairman Vince McMahon tends to be.

As a result, Virk never seemed fully comfortable in his role, although he wasn't given much time to get acclimated.

WWE has yet to announce a replacement for Virk, although putting Phillips back in the spot would be sensible. WWE could also turn to current NXT and former Raw announcer Vic Joseph, or perhaps go with an outside hire again.

The 42-year-old Virk is a native of Toronto who is perhaps best known for his work with ESPN from 2010-19.

Virk was an anchor on SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight and College Football Final, and he also called baseball games for the station on occasion.

Since departing ESPN, Virk has worked for DAZN and MLB Network, and it appears as though he will maintain positions with those entities following his WWE departure.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).