• Legendary WWE Ring Announcer Confirms He No Longer Works For AEW
Former WWE ring announcer Tony Chimel has revealed that his AEW run is over. Speaking on the All Axxess Podcast, Chimel opened up about what it was like behind the scenes at All Elite Wrestling and how the company’s environment differed from WWE.
Chimel made it clear that his stint with AEW was positive from the start, noting that the people within the company helped create a welcoming environment.
“I always had a good time there. I mean, they’re a little smaller operation and, you know, run things a little differently but the people there are nice.”
Despite coming from the massive machine that was WWE, Chimel emphasized that AEW’s smaller scale didn’t take away from the professionalism or the experience.
One of the reasons Chimel felt so comfortable in AEW was the number of former WWE coworkers who had transitioned there, making the locker room feel familiar. “I knew a lot of WWE people there that are there now and stuff like that.”
AEW’s environment – more relaxed and less corporate – provided a refreshing change of pace for the veteran announcer, who spent decades juggling ring announcing, ring crew duties, and production office responsibilities in WWE.
While he didn’t compare the companies directly, he did acknowledge that AEW has its own way of doing things – and in a good way.
“It was a nice little run that I had there and very grateful for the time I had there, and you know they do their thing the way they want to do their thing.”
• WWE Surprised By Roman Reigns’ New Role
Roman Reigns and World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk are starring together as zebra buddy-cops in Zootopia 2. WWE Legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will also be part of this.
The sequel to the original billion-dollar hit Zootopia (which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature) is highly anticipated. Zootopia 2 is set to release on November 26th.
According to Fightful Select, the casting did not begin with Disney reaching out to WWE directly. Instead, it started with talent agent Nick LoPiccolo, who actively pitched ideas to Disney for several roles in the film. His agency regularly contacted studios with casting suggestions, and in this case, one of those pitches included Reigns and Punk.
Disney responded positively to the idea, particularly liking the concept of The Tribal Chief and The Best In The World working together in the same scene. Punk agreed to the role first, while Reigns came on board later. Fightful noted that this decision caught WWE by surprise, as there wasn’t an expectation he would accept the offer.
Ultimately, The OTC chose to do the project because he knew his children would enjoy seeing him in an animated Disney movie and wanted to be involved for their sake.
