Tom Phillips Debuts At IMPACT Hard To Kill 2022

Tom Hannifan is the new voice of IMPACT Wrestling.

by Andrew Pollard
Tom Hannifan Tom Phillips
IMPACT Wrestling

With IMPACT Wrestling putting on a stacked card with last night's Hard to Kill PPV, the company added to the excellent in-ring action by bringing in the former Tom Phillips.

Released by WWE in May 2021, Phillips is now going by his real name of Tom Hannifan within IMPACT. Hannifan replaces Matt Striker at the IMPACT announce booth, with Striker having departed the promotion last week.

Prior to his WWE release, Hannifan had worked on the Raw, SmackDown, NXT, NXT UK and 205 Live brands. He was replaced on Raw by Adnan Virk - that worked out well... - in April, before then being released by Vince McMahon's sports entertainment giant the following month.

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Ahead of last night's Hard to Kill, it was actually Renee Paquette who broke the news of Tom Hannifan's impending IMPACT arrival, with Paquette also revealing how Hannifan will be appearing on her Oral Sessions podcast this coming Tuesday to discuss this latest development.

Hannifan signed with WWE back in 2012, initially serving as a backstage interviewer for the WWE App before then becoming a staple of the organisation's main commentary crew.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.