Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
On Sunday, April 8, 2007 at 2:53 PM EST

Wrestling Weekly sent in the following recap:

On April 3rd, 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.

Les starts the interview by talking about when himself, Kevin Kelly and Dr Tom Pritchard working for WWE developmental. Kevin notes, in his opinion, each new generation has got worse, in terms of wrestlers studying the past and learning their craft. He continues by saying that the road agents in WWE are up against it on a nightly basis. Kevin talks about ‘WrestleMania 23’ and states that a lot of what Batista did at ‘WrestleMania’ was because of the Undertaker and the respect which he has for him. He makes a good point saying, “one good match doesn’t make you Lou Thesz". Les points out that Dave Batista has come along way since OVW. Kevin Kelly talks about Dave Batista in more detail and that Dave asked to be given a chance to see what he could do. Kevin continues that Batista had to go out there and save his own job and career. Kevin Kelly highlights again that it’s important for wrestlers to learn and study their craft. Les talks about that Batista took time to learn through the development system and has been featured at ‘WrestleMania’. Les Thatcher notes that wrestlers are now rushed through developmental. Kevin says this is the mentality of the “yes men generation". He states you should protect yourself and your ’spot’ and “don’t do anything to rock the boat". Kevin Kelly notes he had no problem telling people what they thought about their decisions, which is why, he says, he’s “on the outside looking in".

Kevin talks about the article he wrote about TNA Impact!, which he says was “strongly worded constructive criticism". He states you can read his article on www.voiceofwrestling.com. Kevin Kelly says that Bob Ryder replied and called him a ’third string announcer’, but Kevin replies that at WWE they “enjoyed the finest producing and that is what puts you in the game". He continues by stating that when he did international versions of ’Heat’, ’Raw’ and ’SmackDown!’, he learnt to be a good announcer. Kevin says he learned from Jim Ross and Jim Cornette. Les says to put Jim Cornette in the play by play and have Mike Tenay do the color and be the historian. Les Thatcher continues by highlighting TNA could have Don West do the hard sell which Les notes, is his strong point. Kevin makes an analogy to Don West’s style of announcing by saying that if you go in the ring at hundred miles an hour, where do you go from there. Kevin Kelly states that when Michael Cole has to “deliver the true emotion, it doesn’t come of as believable" and therefore it seems forced. Kevin highlights this is the same with Mike Tenay. He continues by talking about the first meeting between Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle where in Kevin’s opinion it was spoilt by the announcing. Kevin Kelly states that they should take the announcers from ’Impact!’ and just have the crowd. He furthers his point by saying that Mike Tenay and Don West should do the pay-per-views.

Les talks with Kevin about announcing in more detail. Kevin Kelly points out that Gordon Solie was a “master of subtlety". Kevin notes that one of the drawbacks he had as a backstage announcer was that wrestlers made fun of him and used him as a prop, which was fine in his opinion, but when he had to be serious and sell an angle, Kevin Kelly emphasises “it always felt like it blurred the line of credibility, that’s why you got to leave the announcers strong…". Kevin highlights that the tribute to JR was deserved as was his Hall of Fame induction, however, he thinks it was disingenuous by WWE after what they did to Jim Ross. Les and Kevin discuss JR further and Les Thatcher notes that there’s still no one out there who can replace him. He continues by saying Jim Ross and Gordon Solie could make a mediocre match look great. Kevin makes a good point that you can’t fool the viewer at home. Wrestling Weekly listener James asks Kevin Kelly if he was offered a job in TNA would he take it. Kevin replies it’s not a yes or no answer and if there’s an “opportunity to make money, calling wrestling matches…I’ll do it". DeCapo asks Kevin Kelly were he got his start in broadcasting. Kevin says that he worked in radio and got into wrestling through a good friend of his called Cliff Anderson and mentions he got hooked up with Billy Gunn amongst others down in Florida. Doc asks if it was talk radio, Kevin Kelly notes he played music from the 50’s to the 70‘s. His program director was a famous disc jockey called Johnny Dolan and Kevin notes that he learned a lot from him.

MPJ asks if there were discussions of Kevin Kelly going to WCW. The only discussion which Kevin states he had was with Eric Bischoff where he had an audition with WCW, warming up the crowd for WCW Worldwide. Another question is that who had the most talent but didn’t reach their potential in WWE. Kevin says Brian Christopher, whom he says “could do anything…but could never put it all together“. The Superstar SS asks why Vince McMahon focuses on the storylines of a match. Kevin Kelly says WWE do what they do to draw the casual fan, as the angles like Trump vs. McMahon are how the real money is made. He continues by highlighting, “you have the core audience who’s always there but what you really want are the ‘fringes’ and that’s why the corporate philosophy is lets hook the masses with story, the ’ga ga’, in oppose to the stuff in the ring". Les says he was the analyst and had to sell wrestling like it was real. He notes that JBL would be doing the same in the 1970’s. Kevin says one of Tazz’s strengths is that he can talk about the application of a hold.

He says the announcers pay a lot of time and effort to get across the ’ga ga’ in his words but don’t spend anytime on what the actual holds can do. Kevin says you can always build the next generation to believe the idea that it (wrestling) is real. He makes a point that if they see a hold in the WWE that was applied in the UFC, it becomes real and believable. Kevin Kelly is asked about interviewing Jeff Jarrett and Debra after Owen Hart’s sad and tragic fall at ’Over The Edge’ and whether or not WWE should have continued with the pay-per-view event. Kevin replies if they had time to think about it, no. He notes that they didn’t know at the time that Owen had passed away. Kevin Kelly talks about seeing EMT’s attend to Owen Hart whilst interviewing Jeff and Debra, so he reiterates that they didn’t know and “there wasn’t time to think". He continues that “if the show was taped they probably would have stopped but it was a live pay-per-view…there was so many things going on…they treated it like it was an injury but that’s all we believed that it was". Doc says he hates to talk about and Kevin highlights he does too. He states that the two guys who passed away too soon who really touched him were Mr Perfect and the Big Boss Man. He says that he worked with Curt a lot and got to know the Boss Man. He talks about Curt Henning in more detail, noting they had a “ton of laughs". Wrestling Weekly listener, “The Missing" asks was he ever told to never criticize wrestlers. Kevin states you had to be careful what you said about the Fake Diesel and Razor Ramon. Kevin Kelly was never told not to say anything but he notes they knew their jobs and the things that were bad you were supposed to get over and guys who weren’t as good.

Kevin talks about Ahmed Johnson, he says Vince said go in the ring with an interview with Ahmed and when he gets lost, remind him to wrap it up. One more question is will there be anyone to replace JR? Kevin Kelly replies by saying the problem you have when replacing Jim Ross is that they don’t allow announcers to be themselves. However, he notes that if they allowed Joey Styles and himself to be who they are and gave them good credible interviews and get them over they can have strong credibility. Kevin Kelly says “can you replace JR…no, could you be better than JR…no, because it takes years and years and years just to get in the conversation, but could you establish credibility with the fans…yeah, you can do it pretty quickly, but you have to take care…". Kevin Kelly is then thanked for being a guest and Doc says he would like to have him back again soon. Kevin says when him and Les get together, these are what their conversations are like. Kevin Kelly says he was honoured to work with Les and others as they have taught him so much and continue to teach him.

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On Tuesday April 10th, Wrestling Weekly will welcome Ring of Honor and WSX’s Jimmy Jacobs as the featured guest. For more future guest information, visit www.wrestlingweekly.com and www.myspace.com/docyoung (the official MySpace site of 'Wrestling Weekly')