Tony Chimel talks about the unique way he would introduce Edge.
Howard Finkel is many people's greatest wrestling ring announcer of all time. However, Tony Chimel is another story bringing announcer who threw the years called many top WWE moments.
Tony Chimel is perhaps best known for his unique pronunciation of the Rated R Superstar moniker for Edge. Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Tony explained the Looney Tunes-based origins of the pronunciation.
“So here’s the thing about how that started. I used to travel around with Jimmy Korderas, the referee. We would talk and solve the world’s problems or whatever. If someone said something stupid, we would say something like ‘Wile E. Coyote, Super genius!’ So when the Mexicools came to WWE, I started introducing Super Crazy as [high pitched] Super Crazy. Then they left, and when Edge was The Rated R Superstar, I would introduce him as The Rated R [high pitched] Superstar! He loved it every time I did it. I was happy to do it. He would show up once in a while after retiring and he would say ‘Hey Chimel, you got your suit? Because you are going to introduce me tonight.’ I’m like really? I didn’t know he was coming. But that was fun and a pleasure to do,” said Tony.
Tony was released after decades with WWE but Tony tells Chris that he always had a great relationship with Vince McMahon
“Vince was always good to me. He was just like a regular guy that owned the company. He knew me for so long, if he saw me in the hallway he was like ‘Chimel, you still working here? ’I’m like ‘Yeah I’m still here Vince.’ Either that or I would say ‘Yeah I’m here but I’m not working.’ He once came to bat for me big when I was ring announcing. I would get paid a certain amount to ring announce or time keep, and I was getting paid for both. After a couple of years of that, they said that they weren't going to pay the timekeeper anymore, so I lost money. So I went to my boss and asked for more money for ring announcing so it evens out. He said to me ‘Chimel, where would you be working if you didn’t work for WWE?’ I said ‘Well I don’t know, but I am working for WWE.’ My boss always told me ‘If you have a problem with what I am doing then you can go to Vince.’ So I did. I said ‘Vince this is the deal. I’m doing both of these jobs, they took one away, I just want my money back through ring announcing. I will still ring the bell.’ And I told Vince what my boss said about not working here. Vince said ‘Please tell me he didn’t say that.’ I said he did. So I was tearing down the ring that night, my boss comes up and said we will talk about my pay on Monday. Vince must have pulled him aside and said to take care of him or whatever. I will never forget that Vince did that for me,” said Tony.
These days, Edge is still in WWE and he has laid out an open challenge for this year’s WrestleMania. Learn more here.
