"My main job now is I work at Trader Joe's grocery store" - AEW name shares surprising update

An AEW name shared a surprising update about his career. He used to work in WWE.

Tony Chimel was once a well-known name in WWE. He served as a ring announcer for the Stamford-based promotion for several years and introduced some of the biggest superstars of the company in the ring. He also took on other roles during his time with the company.

Chimel worked as a production manager and a member of the ring crew. After spending 38 years with the Stamford-based promotion, he was released from the company in 2020.

Recently, Tony Chimel appeared on the Behind the Turnbuckle podcast, where he admitted that his main job was outside of AEW.

“My main job now is I work at Trader Joe’s grocery store… I love that place and I love working there. I also work for AEW a couple times per month. I love working there as well. That still keeps me a little bit on the wrestling scene and a little bit on the road and stuff like that. I don’t travel the way I used to which I’m very happy about because I don’t want to. I love both gigs now that I’m doing.” [H/T Ringside News]

---

AEW personality Tony Chimel on why he stopped ring announcing in WWE

Tony Chimel served as one of the main ring announcers in WWE for several years. However, he suddenly stopped his duties and spent the latter part of his WWE career working behind the scenes. This raised a lot of eyebrows, given his seniority in the company.

During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Tony Chimel mentioned that he stopped ring announcing because he didn't want to do that on shows 24 days a month.

“At one point when you are there for 25-30 years, and I am teaching the Lilian Garcia or the Justin Roberts or whoever. Basically, they are telling you that you are teaching them because they will be doing your job. That was why I wanted to do something else, I wanted to make myself valuable and do something else other than ring announcing. The ring announcing is the show, but what are you doing 8 hours before or 2 hours after? There was a point where I didn’t want to be on the shows for 24 days a month and do all the house shows," Chimel said.

It will be interesting to see if Tony Chimel will play a more prominent role as AEW continues to grow.