Ex-WWE Announcer Doesn’t Think Kevin Dunn Liked Them
Kevin Dunn isn’t believed to be the nicest man to work with at the best of times, a belief that even transcends to announcers.
Despite his lack of popularity, Kevin Dunn has remained a key principle in the WWE machine for almost four decades, being hired in 1984. Officially titled the Executive Vice President, Television Production, it would seem likely that Dunn has a close bond with all aspects of this; ring announcers included.
That wasn’t the case for tenured announcer Tony Chimel. Chimel was interviewed by the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast recently, addressing Kevin Dunn’s apparent dislike for him:
“I don’t think he ever really liked me. I don’t really have anything bad about him. I’ve gotten two calls from him in my 38 years there, one telling me I was furloughed, the other one telling me I was fired. I don’t hate anybody. I just don’t think that he was, I don’t know, I don’t want to say he wasn’t happy with me because all my bosses were and all of my people that I worked with were. I always had good reviews and things like that. I just don’t think he liked me for whatever reason, I don’t know.”
In contrast, Tony Chimel admitted to having a friendly relationship with ex-WWE boss Vince McMahon, who recently departed his executive WWE roles this past July:
“I always had a good relationship with Vince. Vince was always nice to me. Vince never had a problem with me. Vince would always joke around with me and stuff like that. Vince gave me a career for 38 years. I got no ill will toward Vince or for Vince. He always treated me great and was always nice to me and even stuck by me when I had an issue with one of my bosses a long time ago. He stuck with me and stuck up for me, which I really appreciate and still grateful for to this day.”
Tony Chimel began working as a WWE ring announcer in 1989, having previously been a ring technician alongside the late referee Joey Marella, and worked across all of WWE’s key programming and pay-per-views. He was officially let go from the company in November 2020, ending his legendary tenure with the sports entertainment giant.
In the latter years of his WWE stint, Chimel was largely responsible for a number of backstage dealings, from getting the ring trucks loaded to dealing with bills.