| Tony Chimel | |
|---|---|
 Chimel in 2013 | |
| Born | Texas [1] |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Tony Chimel [1] Tony Chimmel [1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) [1] |
| Billed from | Willingboro Township, New Jersey [1] |
| Debut | 1983 [1] |
Tony Chimel is an American former professional wrestling ring announcer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he works as a producer. He is best known for his time with WWE.
Before Chimel become a ring announcer, he and Joey Marella were the main ring technicians for the WWE. [1] Chimel then began announcing duties for the company in 1989, working mostly televised B-Shows or non-televised house shows and filling in for Howard Finkel whenever necessary, including appearances on Raw .[ citation needed ]
Chimel was the SmackDown! ring announcer from its inception in 1999. He was also the ring announcer at SmackDown brand pay-per-views from 2002 to 2007. He defeated Howard Finkel for the rights to be SmackDown! announcer in 1999 in a tuxedo match. [1]
On Kurt Angle's final episode as SmackDown! General Manager in 2004, he demanded Chimel to come into the ring and give an apology to him; Chimel complied but then was fired by Angle. He was almost immediately re-hired by Vince McMahon.
From 2005 to 2007 Chimel was involved in a mini-feud with Mr. Kennedy, who claimed that Chimel was not announcing his name with the proper respect that it deserved. This feud included Chimel being punched, being hit in the groin, and having a doughnut shoved in his mouth by Kennedy.
On the December 22, 2006 episode of SmackDown!, he announced The Boogeyman as victorious too enthusiastically and caught his attention. The Boogeyman forced worms into his mouth as a result. Chimel ran away from the ring afterwards. This was a storyline for Chimel to take some time off to rest his nagging back injury and spend more time with his family. ECW announcer Justin Roberts was the ring announcer of SmackDown until Chimel returned on April 13, 2007.
In 2007, Chimel swapped ring announcing duties with Justin Roberts, becoming the ring announcer for the ECW brand. [2] Chimel began announcing on WWE Superstars, and made his first appearance on the April 30, 2009 episode. After Justin Roberts left SmackDown to become the new ring announcer for the Raw brand, Chimel left ECW and returned to SmackDown for his second stint as ring announcer. He then became the announcer of the ECW brand when the last ECW announcer, Lauren Mayhew, quickly left the WWE, before returning to SmackDown.
During this time, Chimel began to gain a reputation for his announcements for Edge, who had recently dubbed himself "The Rated-R Superstar". During these announcements, Chimel's voice would frequently crack while saying the word "superstar". This would become something of a running joke on WWE television, leading to Chimel making guest appearances solely to announce Edge.
He was demoted from SmackDown when former Raw announcer Lilian Garcia returned to the WWE in December 2011. At the December 27 taping of SmackDown, NXT , & Superstars, it was revealed that Chimel would be announcing for NXT and the SmackDown portion of Superstars, replacing the departing Eden Stiles. Chimel announced for NXT until the end of the final season of its original run.
He was the ring announcer for Main Event as well as for WWE live events until June 24, 2014, and he was the ring announcer for the short-lived Saturday Morning Slam . He briefly returned to Raw on September 9, 2013, and SmackDown on September 13, 2013, to announce the returning Edge to the ring. On November 16, 2013 at a WWE live event in the United Kingdom, Chimel delivered a stunner to Curtis Axel after Axel forced Chimel to announce that Axel was still the Intercontinental Champion following Axel's win over R-Truth. Afterward, Chimel was kissed by one of the Bella Twins. [3] On the May 14, 2014 episode of Main Event, Tony was attacked by Alicia Fox during her meltdown after she lost to Emma. On the December 29 episode of Raw, Chimel returned to announce Edge and Christian. He would also announce their appearances on the December 30 episode of Main Event and the January 2, 2015 episode of SmackDown.
Chimel later took a hiatus from announcing with WWE . During the hiatus, he announced at house shows only.
Chimel returned to WWE television on the December 28, 2015 edition of Raw. He would return in February 2016 at Fastlane to introduce Edge and Christian. Chimel had since been reserved, only to introduce Edge whenever he appeared on television.
Chimel once again returned to WWE television on November 15, 2016, during the 900th episode of SmackDown. At this appearance, he did his trademark introduction of Edge, before the Cutting Edge segment. Chimel returned during Beth Phoenix's induction in the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame to announce her husband Edge's name.
Chimel worked primarily behind the scenes for WWE in his last years with the company, working as a production manager and part of the ring crew. It was announced on November 9, 2020 that Chimel was released from his WWE contract on November 6, 2020 after being furloughed from the company since April 2020, effectively ending his 38-year tenure there. [4]
Following his release from the WWE, Chimel took a job at a Trader Joe's store. [5] [6] [7]
In April 2023, Chimel revealed that he was working with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) assisting with production during their Orlando tapings. [8]
Chimel appears in the video games WWE Day of Reckoning 2, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011, WWE '12, WWE Wrestlefest, WWE '13, WWE 2K15 as part of the One More Match & The Hall of Pain DLC packs, and WWE 2K16 for SmackDown! in the 3:16 Showcase.
Paul Heyman is an American professional wrestling manager, former promoter, and executive. He is currently signed to WWE, where he appears on the SmackDown brand as the manager for Roman Reigns and The Bloodline. In WWE, Heyman has managed or has served as manager for a record six world champions. Critics have praised his managing and promo skills. Heyman is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers in professional wrestling history. He has also competed sporadically in matches, usually as a comedic foil, including in the main event of the 2002 Rebellion event.
Dustin Patrick Runnels is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Dustin Rhodes. He is best known for his multiple tenures in WWE from 1995 to 2018, under the ring name Goldust. A second generation wrestler, he is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes and the half-brother of Cody Rhodes. He is also known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Darren Kenneth Matthews, better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he serves as the Vice President of Global Talent Development. He is also known for his tenures as a wrestler in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and as a manager in All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Joshua Matthew Lomberger, known by his ring name Josh Mathews, is an American professional wrestling producer, former play by play commentator, and former professional wrestler, currently signed to TNA Wrestling. He is also known for his time in WWE.
Howard Finkel was an American professional wrestling ring announcer, backstage worker, and occasional professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in WWE. He began working for Vincent J. McMahon's World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in 1975, and was a Madison Square Garden ring announcer since 1977. Finkel was WWE's longest-serving employee and was widely regarded as the greatest ring announcer of all time. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.
Martin Wright, better known by the ring name The Boogeyman, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE under a legends contract, and is an aerobics instructor.
The brand extension, also referred to as the brand split, is the separation of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE's roster of wrestlers into distinct divisions, or "brands". The promotion's wrestlers are assigned to a brand via the annual WWE Draft and exclusively perform on that brand's weekly television show, with some exceptions. Throughout its history, WWE has utilized the brand extension twice. The first brand split occurred from 2002 to 2011, while the ongoing second began in 2016.
Justin Jason Roberts is an American professional ring announcer currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Roberts regularly announced for its pay-per-views and television shows like Raw, SmackDown, ECW, and Superstars fron 2002 to 2014.
Gabbi Alon Tuft is an American TikToker and retired professional wrestler. Tuft is best known for her time with WWE under the ring name Tyler Reks. Tuft also competed in WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where she won the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship once and the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice, once with Joe Hennig and once with Johnny Curtis.
Charles Edward Betts is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Chad Gable and is the leader of Alpha Academy. He is a four-time tag team champion in WWE.
Joseph Ruud is an American professional wrestler and occasional actor, currently performing under the ring name Erick Redbeard. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Erick Rowan.
Matthew Adams is an Australian professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Buddy Matthews as a member of the stable House of Black and is a former one-time AEW World Trios Champion. Adams also makes appearances on the independent circuit and is best known for his time with WWE where he performed under the ring names Buddy Murphy and Murphy.
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, also known as The Bludgeon Brothers, were a professional wrestling tag team in WWE. They were also known as being members of the cult faction The Wyatt Family, led by Bray Wyatt.
Tom Büdgen is a Dutch professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs as leader of the House of Black stable under the ring name Malakai Black and is a former one-time AEW World Trios Champion. He is also known for his work in WWE, where he performed as Aleister Black from 2017 to 2021.
The 2017 WWE Superstar Shake-up was the eleventh WWE draft – and the first to be rebranded as the Superstar Shake-up – produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between the Raw and SmackDown brands. Instead of a traditional draft, changes between the brands were made behind the scenes, with moving wrestlers simply appearing on a brand's show or announced via WWE's website or social medias. It was a two-day event that took place on the April 10 and 11 episodes of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live, respectively, on the USA Network in the United States. Raw was broadcast from Uniondale, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, while SmackDown was broadcast from Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden.
SmackDown is a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was established on March 25, 2002. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers assigned to SmackDown primarily appear on the brand's weekly television program, Friday Night SmackDown, also referred to simply as SmackDown. It is one of WWE's two main brands, along with Raw, collectively referred to as WWE's main roster. The brand extension was discontinued between August 2011 and July 2016.
WWE, an American professional wrestling promotion based in Stamford, Connecticut, in the United States owned by the McMahon family, has been promoting events in New Zealand since 2006.
The 2020 WWE Draft was the 15th WWE Draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The two-night event began on the October 9 episode of Friday Night SmackDown and concluded on the October 12 episode of Monday Night Raw. Both shows were broadcast from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, with SmackDown airing on FOX and Raw on USA.
The 2021 WWE Draft was the 16th WWE Draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The two-night event began with the October 1 episode of Friday Night SmackDown. It concluded with the October 4 episode of Monday Night Raw, with SmackDown airing on Fox and Raw on the USA Network. Unlike previous drafts, in which results took effect immediately, the results of the 2021 draft went into effect in the October 22 episode of SmackDown.
The B-Team was a professional wrestling tag team in WWE, composed of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. The team are former one-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. They also formerly performed as The Social Outcasts and The Miztourage from 2016 to 2018 before assuming their recent tag team name The B-Team.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)