New WWE RAW Commentator Still Hasn’t Met Vince McMahon
Adnan Virk is the newest play-by-play announcer for Monday Night RAW, which was first exclusively reported by Wrestling Inc. last week. But as revealed in an appearance on Sportsnet's Boomer in the Morning, he still hasn't actually met WWE owner and Chairman Vince McMahon.
"I haven't met him yet," Virk said. "When I went to the audition he was there, but (Michael) Cole is the guy in charge. So Vince was there, didn't meet him. My thought was 'if I don't get the job, at least I can say I met him.' But it didn't happen. When they put my tape before him and they watch all the different tapes, I think Nick (Khan) was lobbying for me, Cole was obvious a big fan. But Vince didn't know who I was; he was like 'who is this guy?' He is a workaholic, he's so focused on the job at WWE, right? He's not watching Baseball Tonight. But he was like 'alright. I like his voice, I like his style. You guys vouch for him, cool. Let's do it.'
"This weekend at WrestleMania I thought I would meet him. But it's WrestleMania, the Super Bowl of WWE so he was way too busy. So I still haven't met him yet, which is perhaps surprising, perhaps not. I think it's surprising if you know how invested he is in the product, that he's involved with everything. I'm sure he was watching. I'm sure he'll have notes, constructive criticism, do this, do that.
"But yeah; that's going to be pretty cool when I meet him. It's going to be like 'dude, Demolition. Let's talk!"
Virk also talked about how laid back he is about approaching his new job.
"What's the worst that could happen? Like what if I just do a horrible job? Everyone's like 'this guy sucks, go back to baseball, whatever.' At the very least I've got the stories. I'm going to get to meet people like Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
"And here's the best part; at some point I'll be able to take my kids ringside. No matter what happens, no one will be able to take that away from me. My kids will be at ringside going 'dad, I saw Randy Orton take a DDT!' I remember when Ben Affleck got killed for playing Batman. He said, and this is true, his motivation was 'I want to be able to tell my kids I played Batman.' And now kids will be able to go 'my dad is on RAW every week.'"
Virk made his RAW debut this past Monday night following WrestleMania 37. He admitted there was one thing that caught him off guard.
"I had no idea someone was going through the announcer's table," Virk said. "The audio guy told me 'hey listen. I know you watch the product. When they come to the table, make sure you grab your chord, okay.' I was like 'cool, whatever.' And then it happened when Drew McIntyre hits the table. We go to the commercial break and I realize my phone is shattered. My entire life is on that phone. And it's gone; it's gone on night one because Drew McIntyre got chokeslammed through the table.
"That was the first lesson; expect the unexpected and grab your phone. Anyone who thinks this is choreographed, I'm telling you, from the bottom of my heart, I had no idea this was coming. And I have learned my lesson. The guys I'm with, (Corey) Graves and (Byron) Saxton, they don't know who wins or loses. They don't want to know. This all has to have an element of surprise. And let's just say I won't be surprised again."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Sportsnet's Boomer in the Morning and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription