Tag: kevin kelly

Left My Wallet: NJPW announcer Kevin Kelly

Posted on by Antonio Garza

Left My Wallet is back with New Japan play by play announcer Kevin Kelly!

The man responsible for calling a myriad of classic matches the last few years joins me to talk about his beloved Mets, the football team of his alma mater Florida State, and, of course, New Japan Pro Wrestling and the G1.

Kevin talks about the Mets’ resurgent month and why he thinks they will make the playoffs, his thoughts on Brody Van Wagenen, Mickey Callaway, Pete Alonso, and the player the Mets traded away that he feels ignited their rise to the top of wild card contention.

The talk then turns to FSU football as Kevin hopes his school can improve greatly on a disappointing 2018 season and gives thoughts on Willie Taggert, their season opener vs Boise State, what he thinks their record will be, and more.

Finally, I would be remiss if we didn’t talk some New Japan. Kevin explains what goes through his mind when he’s calling some of these all-time great matches, his thoughts on the level of work in the G1, our love for Sanada, the differences between calling WWE and New Japan, and why he considers himself “the conductor” of the New Japan announcing team.

There’s some baseball, some football, and a lot of New Japan talk to get your weekend started off right.

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Left My Wallet: NJPW broadcaster Kevin Kelly

Posted on by Antonio Garza

‘I Left My Wallet in Greg Polanco’ is back talking all sports with New Japan Pro Wrestling announcer Kevin Kelly and then some Winnipeg Jets hockey with the Empire’s own Paul Fontaine.

Paul kicks us off with a guest appearance to talk his hometown Winnipeg Jets and their amazing season thus far. We chat about their NHL Western Conference finals victory over Vegas, keys to winning the series, the futility that has befallen Winnipeg pro sports teams, Bobby Hull, Keith Tkachuck, and even a little fantasy baseball. 

We then go to Kevin, the English play-by-play voice of NJPW and he’s also a huge sports fan. We discussed the heartbreak that his New York Mets have brought him, their outlook for this season, what has gone wrong with the franchise, and the promising players they have in the system. He then tells an aweosme story of his relationship with fellow Florida State alum “Prime Time” Deion Sanders and his Chrysler LeBaron, the remake of the Florida State football coaching and scouting staff, and more.

Kevin also dropped a subtle teaser about a big announcement coming to New Japan and the G1 this coming summer.

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Kevin Kelly leaving full-time position with Ring of Honor

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The Ring of Honor television situation is a bit in flux with the exit of play-by-play man Kevin Kelly, the third announcer to have departed the company in the last several weeks following Steve Corino and Nigel McGuinness.

PW Insider reported Kelly being gone from the promotion which we confirmed. Kelly is headed to Japan for a week to work for New Japan Pro Wrestling alongside Don Callis, doing both the February 5th show in Sapporo and the February 11th show in Osaka. H

However, according to several sources, Kelly is not necessarily gone from the company, and there are still plans for him to work on camera with ROH in the future at this point. 

He left his full-time position in part due to the time away for the NJPW job. He is no longer an employee, but ROH still plans on using him as a freelancer in between Japan dates. His ROH off-camera job, which he left, was said to be a high stress job due to his role with NJPW.

The aforementioned Corino and McGuinness both left for WWE with Corino working as a trainer and McGuinness as a broadcaster. The latter started at the U.K. tournament and is now a regular with NXT, starting on the show that airs this coming Wednesday.

In addition, Kenny Omega’s ROH return will be later this month at the end of the month at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall. Omega said in a recent interview with this site that he was planning on working those dates which New Japan confirmed today.

NJPW announces English commentary broadcast schedule

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

New Japan today has announced a full schedule of events on New Japan World with English language commentary of the events that will air live.

As has already been reported, both major shows in February, the New Beginning in Sapporo on February 5th with the Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki IWGP title match and the February 11th New Beginning in Osaka with the Tetsuya Naito vs. Michael Elgin IC title match will have English language commentary.

The other shows between now and August with English commentary are:

  • March 6th — 45th Anniversary show at the Tokyo Ota Ward Gym
  • March 20th — New Japan Cup finals (winner to get an IWGP title match on 4/9)
  • April 9th — Sakura Genesis at Tokyo Sumo Hall
  • May 3rd — Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka’s International Center Arena
  • June 3rd — Best of the Super Junior finals
  • June 11th — Dominion in Osaka Jo Hall (the biggest event between now and G-1)
  • July 1st — The show in Long Beach, CA
  • July 2nd — The second show in Long Beach, CA
  • July 17th — Opening night of the G-1 tournament in Sapporo
  • August 11th — A block finals of G-1 at Sumo Hall
  • August 12th — B block finals of G-1 at Sumo Hall
  • August 13th — G-1 Climax championship match at Sumo Hall

Kevin Kelly will be the lead announcer for the broadcasts. At this point it’s unknown who will be working with him now that Steve Corino has taken a job as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center.