Chris Val Vliet interviewed Impact’s Tom Hannifan this week on “Insight” to talk about his time announcing in the WWE, his new role in Impact, and why he orginally applied for the WWE.
Tom Hannifan talking about announcing for all of the WWE shows:
“One of the best experiences I had was at NXT UK, which is criminally underrated,” he shared. “Just having that opportunity to briefly be working over there in the United KIngdom with the extraordinary group of talented people that they have over there. Everybody that they have on that show wants to be there.”
“That for me was an opportunity at the end of 2019. I had been taken off of SmackDown. I did 205 and NXT UK for a while, and then in 2020, I came back for the Rumble. I prided myself on staying up to date on everything because at one point or another, I had to cover everything.”
Hannifan on announcing for Impact Wrestling:
“I will get fed the occasional note from the match producer if there is something important. My executive producer is Josh Matthews, but if you told me a few years ago I would be like, what? It’s wild.”
“We’ve crossed paths briefly in WWE. I was getting started when his time was coming to an end. It’s wild that you keep running across the same people. It’s like a quarterback going from one system to another but with another playbook.”
On why he originally applied to WWE:
“When I graduated from Penn State, I was trying to get a job in broadcast journalism. I was applying everywhere, and there was a job lead that came through from WWE. I’m like, this is a billion dollar company,” he laughed.
“I was surprised that this was on the website when you look at the other leads. So, I’m like alright, give it a shot. I was a fan as a kid and watched TNA sporadically, but also I was watching RAW and Nitro, but I was not a die hard fan. I was so lucky to get hired at 23 and to interact with everyone that I did.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Also, be sure to subscribe to “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” on your mobile device by clicking here if you have an iOS device or here on your Android device.
