The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling recently conducted an interview with former WWE announcer Tony Chimel, who spoke in-depth about his run with the company, which included his release in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
What his status was at the time of his WWE release:
“When the pandemic hit, I was willing to go and travel and do shows and do whatever, and just continue to do my job. Obviously, they weren’t running shows all over the country because of that. But they started running shows in Orlando, which is only two or three hours from where I live now and where I lived. I offered to go there, and they were saying no, they didn’t want me there and things like that.”
Recalls Kevin Dunn giving him the termination call:
“Kevin technically wasn’t my boss, but he makes a lot of decisions. I don’t know if he made a decision, or that new guy Khan, whatever, made the decision, because I’m sure they had independent contractors working in the production office and doing what I was doing for probably a lot less money. And at 59 to 60 years of age back then, they probably said, ‘Oh, we can just let him go.’ I guess it was a timing thing for them.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)