5 WWE Stars You Forgot Were Still Employed

Credit: WWE.com

2. Tony Chimel

Let’s be honest, a lot of the younger WWE fans may not know who Tony Chimel is. But for many of us who were faithful viewers of SmackDown during the original brand split, Chimel was a recognizable voice of the blue brand. But the interesting thing is that Chimel is one of the longest tenured employees currently with the WWE. His announcing career first began back in 1991.

But before his voice filled the arenas with announcements of the following contests, Chimel was actually someone who grew up knowing Gorilla Monsoon, who helped him and some friends from school help out with setting up the ring at events on the East coast. It was usually something for Chimel to do on the side before he was hired as a full-time ring technician.

Chimel’s voice was noticed and he would actually become the first ring announcer in SmackDown history back in 1999. For several years, fans expected to hear his voice in a way that we expected to hear the voice of Howard Finkel on Raw during the later parts of the Monday Night Wars.

Chimel is now seen mostly at live events. While we’re not seeing him regularly during the new era of SmackDown Live, his voice is still heard in some parts of the WWE Universe.