 The following was transcribed by Andy J. of www.wrestlingweekly.com:
On July 10th, Wrestling Weekly hosts Doc Young and Les Thatcher were
joined by former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly.
Wrestling Weekly airs every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern at
www.wrestlingweekly.com
Doc and Les discussed the following with Kevin Kelly.
– Josh Abercrombie’s (from ‘Wrestling Society X’) blog entry, in which Josh made an interesting analogy between firework display’s and professional wrestling matches.
– Younger wrestlers getting experience, which is done by having more people on a wrestling show and in comparison, having lesser multi-person matches which Kevin Kelly notes, “with a twelve/sixteen man card you can make money, you can tell good stories…you don’t need multiple man extravaganza’s…â€
– The problem in pro-wrestling today, which Kevin says are gimmicks are added to matches which detract from the basic storytelling element of a match
– The over emphasis of title matches, like the WWE ‘Vengeance’ pay-per-view, where every match a title was defended.
– The build-up of the Bobby Lashley and John Cena match & Kevin Kelly’s thoughts on John Cena’s WWE Championship reigns
– The logic behind WWE Title matches in comparison to when there was more logical progression in pro-wrestling, with Kevin mentioning the gradual evolution of Kevin Sullivan’s character into a heel
– Wrestlers transitioning to color commentary with Les Thatcher stating that as an athlete he couldn’t act like a normal announcer. Les continued by saying that he could develop his own character then and says that today there is over producing.
– Jack Briscoe, who stated that “Vince (McMahon) is going to make a call for an old timer and there isn’t going to be anybody there†and congress, who want to investigate WWE and take a look at steriod/drug usage in the company.
– Kevin Kelly continued by saying if wrestling is investigated then rock, movie and television performers should be too. Kevin also highlighted a quote from Vince McMahon who said, “You have to protect the talent from themselves†and noted “some guys need instruction, need policing…â€
– Kevin stated that the “wrestling industry needs to do a better job of policing itself, the boys need to do a better job of policing themselves, but it all comes down to personal choice & personal accountabilityâ€
– Kevin Kelly’s thoughts on congress investigating Baseball
– Doc asked if Kevin and Les had been contacted to add their thoughts on the Benoit family tragedy. Les Thatcher says he spoke to CNN and was asked to do a report. Les noted that Marc Mero has been a good spokesman. Kevin Kelly highlights he was impressed “how the wrestling community was represented and how each of the guys have presented themselves… (Marc) Mero, (Steve) Blackman both did a great job…â€. Kevin continued by talking about the media’s representation of pro-wrestling and his thoughts.
– Kevin notes he has gotten a lot of requests by e-mail but stays away from it, saying “I try not to comment too much“ in regards again to the Benoit Family tragedy, which he briefly added his thoughts about. Kevin Kelly notes he did speak on a BBC talk show.
– Kevin Kelly continued by saying that as independent contractors, wrestlers don’t get any employee benefits and highlights that change in the wrestling business, has to come from within.
– Kevin noted that whilst at WWE some doctors weren’t allowed to associate and go backstage to see the wrestlers and also emphasised that WWE did help out a lot of wrestlers who were both on the roster and not employed currently by WWE. Kevin Kelly continued, stating that TNA have to have a wellness policy too.
– Steroid usage in sports. Kevin emphasised that when Les trained wrestlers, “steroids were never part of the conversation†and that if wrestlers needed to gain weight they did so by nutrition
Kevin is then thanked for being a guest and will be a regular guest on ‘Wrestling Weekly’ every few weeks for “Hot Topicâ€
For more on Kevin Kelly, you can visit www.wrestlingradionetwork.com/forums
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