In the summer of 2014, Phillips entered into a brief storyline with Alicia Fox, where he was stalked and tormented by her on a number of occasions, ringside and backstage. Hannifan, as Tom Phillips, serves as lead play-by-play announcer for "SmackDown Live" commentary team. After winning the United States Championship against Kevin Owens at Payback, Chris Jericho put both Philips and "RAW" reporter Mike Rome on The List for both interrupting his goodbye to "RAW" general manager Kurt Angle. He was the lead commentator for the "NXT" brand tapings and broadcasts since 2014 until being replaced by Mauro Ranallo in 2017. Phillips also acted as lead play-by-play announcer at WrestleMania 33 on April 2, 2017 for the SmackDown brand, becoming the fifth person in the company's history to act as the lead commentator at WrestleMania. Philips also led commentating in "205 Live" before Vic Joseph replaced him.