IMPACT commentator Tom Hannifan was the latest guest on Insight With Chris Van Vilet to discuss all things pro-wrestling, including his favorite call in WWE, and what he believes was his biggest on-air mistake in WWE. Highlights from the interview are below.
His favorite call in WWE:
“Oh gosh. I mentioned Kofi Mania. I loved the call in the conclusion of that match. I will always remember TakeOver Dallas where Corey Graves called Shinsuke’s arrival in NXT and Sami Zayn’s last match in NXT. The building is shaking and Graves and I are just freaking out, we had Goosebumps and everything. But there were a lot of individual moments that I was proud of that call. But for every good one, there are 100 bad ones. I have a perfectionist mentality. But I will watch it back and lighten up on myself, I think a lot of people need to do that in general.”
His biggest on-air mistake in WWE:
“Yeah there have been a bunch. I can’t really remember what it was, but it was a Samoa Joe match with me [Corey] Graves and Byron [Saxton] because we were all tied at the hip. I got tongue tied and invented the calf bone, which Graves got on top of me and said ‘That’s not a thing Phillips, that’s a shin.’ My head just bounced off the desk and I’m like yeah, I will see myself out.”
Whether someone is in his ear in IMPACT:
“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 that a few years ago I would be like what? It is wild, we have crossed paths briefly in WWE, I was getting started as his time was coming to an end. But 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.”
Full interview is below.