Tony Chimel released as part of WWE staff cuts

Longtime WWE ring announcer Tony Chimel was released by the company last week along with a small group of front office personnel.

The news was first reported by PWInsider and later confirmed by Dave Meltzer.

The New Jersey native began with the then-WWF in 1989 as part of the ring crew along with Joey Marella, son of Gorilla Monsoon. A part-time role turned into a full-time role which eventually gave him the opportunity to do fill-in ring announcing work.

He became the full-time ring announcer on SmackDown in 1999 and was involved in several angles throughout his tenure. He moved to announcing house shows starting in 2015 and took on more of a role in production as well as overseeing the ring crew in recent years.

Also involved in the releases was WWE Director of Venue Merchandise and Remote Operations Derek Casselman who had been with the company since 1993.

It’s unknown what roles the other laid off staff had, but they are believed to be live event/touring related which the company is obviously not doing any of due to the pandemic.