Kevin Kelly Recalls Being Part Of The Rock’s Classic Interviews
The Rock had a lot of fun at the expense of WWE announcers that interviewed him and Kevin Kelly has shared what it was like for him.
During Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s prime in WWE in the Attitude Era, he was given a lot of microphone time to talk about whoever he was feuding with at the time. A lot of times he would do in-ring promos, but there are plenty of memorable backstage interview moments for The Rock too.
Whether it was Kevin Kelly, Michael Cole, Jonathan Coachman, Lilian Garcia or somebody else standing there with The Rock, the People’s Champion would have fun with them.
If you went back and saw some of those promos today you might think that The Rock was mean, even as a babyface wrestler, and maybe even say he was bullying him. Fans likely still remember The Rock calling Kelly a “hermie” (short for hermaphrodite) or making Kelly pick his nose while The Rock spoke. It may not have been kind of The Rock, but it was entertaining to watch.
Kevin Kelly worked for WWE from 1996 to 2003. After moving on, Kelly became the voice of Ring of Honor from 2010 to 2017. In today’s wrestling world, Kevin Kelly is praised heavily as a veteran, respected English-speaking play-by-play announcer for New Japan Pro Wrestling, which is a role he has had since 2015.
In a recent interview with the Insiders Edge podcast, Kevin Kelly explained how it was his job to be there while The Rock had fun and he was fine with it.
“Sometimes we would walk through what was going to be the bit, ‘and then I’ll cut you off here.’ I didn’t necessarily know what the cutoff would be. He would say, ‘If I ask you a question, answer it this way.’ Pretty much, that was about it. I would say, ‘I’m going to ask a question.’ I had a motivation.”
“I wanted to ask a pertinent question and I wanted The Rock to finally say, ‘Kevin, The Rock has been giving you a hard time all these months. The Rock wants to let you know you’re doing a hell of a job, that’s a great question,’ then he gives the answer. That’s what I worked for every time.”
“I’ve got this question nailed down, I’m proper, I’m prepared, I’m on time. I’m waiting anxiously outside The Rock’s locker room and when we come back, we’ll hear from The Great One himself. I get to ask a question, and when he would put up the hand and stop me, it was a soul crusher. The zing, I would be unaware of it because I was so crestfallen that I didn’t get to ask my question. I’m Elmer Fudd stepping on the rake every week and smashing into my face. That was my job. I was the foil for him.”