Tony Chimel
| Tony Chimel | |
|---|---|
 Chimel in November 2013 | |
| Birth name | Anthony Ralph Chimel |
| Born |
October 11, 1967 Cherry Hill, New Jersey, United States[1] |
| Residence |
Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Children | Joey Chimel |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Tony Chimel[1] Tony Chimmel[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1] |
| Billed from | Cherry Hill, New Jersey[1] |
| Trained by | Bill Watts |
| Debut | 1983[1] |
Anthony Ralph "Tony" Chimel (born October 11, 1967) is an American professional wrestling ring announcer, and is the longest serving currently employed by WWE.[1]
Announcing career
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment / 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 1991, working mostly non-televised house shows and filling in for Howard Finkel whenever necessary.
SmackDown (1999–2007)
Chimel was the SmackDown ring announcer from its inception in 1999. He was also the ring announcer at SmackDown brand pay-per-views from 2002-2007. 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 "told to take a bow" (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.
Various brand switches (2007–2015)
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.
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 at 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 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.
Sporadic appearances (2015–present)
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 at Fastlane 2016 to introduce Edge and Christian.
Other media
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.
Personal life
Chimel named his son Joey after Joey Marella, a referee and the adopted son of Gorilla Monsoon, who was killed in an automobile accident. He was once taken out by stretcher after being superkicked by Shawn Michaels ringside during his Iron Man match against Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII in 1996.[4]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Tony Chimel Bio". WWE. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ↑ Mackinder, Matt (2007-07-04). "ECW: Pick Your Poison". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ↑ Middleton, Marc. "Latest WWE NXT Hulu Highlight, Tony Chimel Hits A Stunner And Gets A Kiss, JR On Savage-HOF". WrestlingInc. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
- ↑ "Biography for Tony Chimel". IMDb. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tony Chimel. |
- Tony Chimel's profile on WWE.com
- Tony Chimel on Twitter
- Tony Chimel at the Internet Movie Database