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Kevin Kelly On His Way Out Of NJPW

By Lyle Kilbane • Published 5th September 2023
Kevin Kelly in AEW

Kevin Kelly looks to be bringing down the curtain on his NJPW career sooner rather than later.

Former WWE broadcaster Kevin Kelly has been the English voice of New Japan Pro Wrestling since 2015 but many wondered about his long-term role with the promotion after he was announced as the lead announcer for AEW’s new Collision show.

However, Kelly took time off from Collision to cover the G1 Climax tournament and was replaced for those few weeks by Ring of Honor announcer Ian Riccaboni. But now Kevin Kelly has settled into his role with AEW, it seems that his days in NJPW are indeed numbered.

Kevin Kelly explains NJPW decision

Kelly responded to fans on social media questioning if he was finishing up with the Japanese promotion. According to the announcer he expects to call Wrestle Kingdom in early 2024 but beyond that, his time looks to be up:

“I am at some point soon but I’ll leave it to New Japan to announce it or not. I plan on calling Destruction at Ryogoku and Wrestle Kingdom/ New Year Dash”

Kevin Kelly then revealed what lies behind his decision, noting that his wife wants to spend more time with him after all his time travelling to Japan for work:

“My wife of 32 years said she doesn’t want to be alone anymore so that’s why I made the decision.”

In addition to his work on Collision, Kevin Kelly was on the call for the first few matches of All Out where MJF and Adam Cole retained the ROH Tag Team Championship before Samoa Joe did the same with his ROH World Television Title against Shane Taylor.