Last night’s Monday Night Raw was a special one for Jimmy Smith as the former MMA fighter and broadcaster sat in the hot seat for the first of many broadcasts to come.
Smith, who replaced Adnan Virk as the lead commentator on Raw, said on Twitter that he had a blast on the show and tried to give the main event his best energy it deserved.
Smith noted earlier that the ThunderDome is truly impressive. “I have been a part of a LOT of big sports productions. I’ve never seen ANYTHING that compares to the setup at ThunderDome,” he wrote to his followers.
Fans seem to have welcomed Smith better than they welcomed Virk as the usual hard-to-please wrestling audience reacted positively to his commentary.
“Great upgrade,” said one tweet during the show. “He’s commentated 2 minutes worth of match and already I think Jimmy Smith > Adnan Virk,” added another one. “I know the bar is pretty low but thought Jimmy Smith was pretty good on the bits I have seen from RAW,” said another fan.
Virk was highly criticized in the five weeks he was on Raw and never managed to get the audience behind him. He was eventually released from his role after the two sides came to a mutual agreement.
